Better Information Retention

 

 Brainstorming Techniques

Do you ever have trouble coming up with new ideas? No worries. Here are a few strategies and tips to help you get started:

-Focus on the end goal. Ask yourself, "What would I like my final product to be?"

-Start with the easiest ideas first. Write down these easy thoughts, even if they seem silly to you. They might trigger other, more complex thoughts in your mind that can't come out unless they're forced out of your brain. 

-Put together an idea cabinet of resources (e.g., index cards with key words). Keep these in front of you to stimulate new thoughts.

-Share your ideas with someone else. Tell them what you're looking for, and they might be able to put forward some new ideas.

-Look at old work and try to think of ways to improve it or broaden it.

-Look at old work again, but this time imagine the opposite of what you had originally intended (e.g., if a piece was meant to be an essay about how law enforcement officers treat the homeless, ask yourself how the homeless treat law enforcement).

-Think about a problem that needs to be solved. Ask yourself, "What are some of the problems that might arise as a result of solving this problem?" These problems will help you expand your thinking.

-Break the problem down into smaller parts and ask what would happen if you added another part or took out one part. This might give you more specific ideas to work with.

-Analyze your current world the way an anthropologist would analyze it (i.e., by listing things in terms of comparisons between our world and that of other cultures).

-Read poetry, especially ones written by famous authors, especially ones who have won awards for their writing.

-Read old, classic books that you haven't read. Doing so might sharpen your mind and make you see things from a different perspective.

-Read newspaper articles, especially ones that are written in a difficult language (e.g., Russia Today).

-Play games. Take turns playing each other and being the judge for the ideas that come out of it.

-Solve puzzles, especially ones with an absurd premise (e.g., "What if human beings were really dog people?").

-Watch TV comedies, especially ones that rely heavily on visual jokes rather than on logic and that have a fast pace (e.g., "The Office", "Masters of Sex").

-Watch movies, especially ones with a high body count (e.g., "Die Hard", "The Terminator")

-Watch documentaries; they're usually entertaining and often have an absurd premise that lights the imagination on fire.

-Place yourself in the middle of an ongoing debate or disagreement, or go to a Wikipedia entry on a topic that interests you and then pick something that seems absurd.

-Work with others who think differently than you do. Suggest new ideas to them, and let them help shape your ideas into more realistic possibilities.

-Watch people who are famous for their creativity, and see what ideas they use to get their thinking going.

-Watch movies again, but this time try to put yourself in the same situation that the movie character was in at the beginning of the film (e.g., if you're watching a horror film, imagine that you are a character in the film).

-List things and scenarios that you find funny or ridiculous. This might give you an idea or two on how to work with them.

-Identify your current thoughts as an unconscious thought or an instinct, and label them accordingly (e.g., "My thought is: I should look at something cool.").

-Identify an irrational emotion that you have (e.g., anger, greed), and make a list of rational things you could do to alleviate that emotion.

-Look at all the different aspects of something and ask yourself what might be wrong with them (e.g., "Why don't I have more friends?"). This will help you see the bigger picture.

-Make lists of things that interest you, and then look at them in a different light (e.g., "How would I act if I were stranded on a deserted island?").

-Ask others who are experts in an area to give you their thoughts on how something should be done or what makes certain types of people successful.

-Ask random people for different types of information. For example, if you intend to write a parody of a famous rapper, ask people who know him what type of person he is and what he talks about in his songs.

-Think about your favorite movies, and ask yourself how they could have been better.

-Draw out a flowchart (e.g., the one on the next page) to try to figure out ways that you could improve your life:

-Write down all the things that you wish had never happened to you (e.g., "My first girlfriend dumped me when I was young, and I never got over it.").

-Write down all the things that you wish you could change in yourself (e.g., "I wish I was more confident.").

-Write down all the things that you would like to do but somehow haven't found the time (e.g., painting, playing an instrument, learning Spanish).

-Write down all the things that have happened to you that are a direct result of your actions (e.g., "I became a doctor so I could help people who can't afford treatment for chronic diseases.").

-If something awful has happened in your life, write down why it happened and how it made you feel (e.g. "I became a doctor so I could help people who can't afford treatment for chronic diseases and make more money than my father did, but instead I got threatened with a lawsuit by a patient because I didn't treat him as quickly as his insurance company requested.").

-Individually list all the things that you would like to achieve in life (e.g., "write a bestseller someday").

-Go over all the different times in your life when something went wrong and ask yourself why it happened, and ask yourself what you could have done that would have prevented the occurrence of an event.

-At the end of each day, take one hour to write down everything that you feel good about today (e.g. "I'm in great shape; I have a good job, my family loves me, I'm making money, I have a lot of friends, my girlfriend loves me, I eat healthy and exercise every day, my health is excellent").

-Go through your long-term plans and list all the obstacles that you might face along the way (e.g., "the project will probably fail because I don't have any connections to people who can help me").

-Try to imagine how things would be different if you were born in another country or at a different time. This might help you see the world and what's possible differently.

Conclusion:

I hope that this has given you a better understanding of the concepts I presented and has helped you to realize that different perspectives are valuable and can help solve problems better. These concepts have helped me to see the world in a more positive light, and will hopefully help you too. Good luck!

-Dr. Alexei Golubovich, DDS (BSc) (PhD)

-Alexei Golubovich's Blog: http://golubbovich.com/ (in Russian)

-Bestselling author of How To Create A Successful Online Business: http://www.howtocreateasuccessfuonlinebusinessbook.