You are a genius. You have a human brain that is more powerful than any known computer. Stand up, walk around and get into the mindset and physiology of someone who is confident, creative, and quick-witted. Notice how a confident person breathes, how they occupy their body and space, how they move with flair. You are a genius, so move, breathe and act like one! It’s easy for someone like you to generate ideas – you are an Ideas Person!
2. Draw a mind-map!
Grab some coloured pens and paper. Draw a circle in the middle and write your challenge inside it. Let your brain start making connections. Draw branches out from the central idea. Using coloured pens note your subsequent thoughts. Use little drawings where you can. This is an idea map you are creating. Let it flow from one thing to the next.
3. Get some ingredients!
To cook a tasty dish, you need to mix different ingredients together. It’s been said that all creativity is the act of putting old things or old ideas together in a new way. For ideas within a specific field, look at the old ideas within that field or related fields. Ask how you can put them together in a different way, a new format or perhaps the opposite way. If you are just looking generally for ideas, then you can reach out and let anything be the thing that starts off your creative idea storming process. Just look to combine the old in new ways…
4. Grab a friend!
When you combine minds, the ‘computing’ power grows exponentially and is more powerful than the sum of its parts. The truth is that you only need 1 brain to get creative – yours! However, it’s a lot more fun when you utilise the spare brainpower of friends and workmates. The extra stimulation of their thoughts and ideas could be just what you need to trigger The Ultimate Idea that changes your life forever…
5. Don’t be yourself!
Take on a role. Do your thinking as James Bond, Napoleon Bonaparte, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein or Dolly Parton! You are an immensely creative being. By acting as someone else, you free yourself to access other parts of your mind. Try it – if nothing else it’s fun!
6. Close your eyes!
Shutting your eyes immediately transports you into the world of the subconscious – and you can tap into its extraordinary non-stop thinking power. Associate closing your eyes with elevator doors closing – as soon as you close your eyes, you start going down into the depths of your subconscious and unconscious mind. Here you can access million dollar ideas with absolute ease. Allow yourself to relax, make the journey down and think about your challenge at a deep inner level. Return when you are ready, feeling refreshed, renewed and ready to fire up your ideas.
7. A little Divine Inspiration!
Here’s an energy exercise much favoured by the hottest Hollywood stars. Imagine that there is a golden circle of light right in front of you – this is your spotlight – your place to shine! Step inside that circle of light and feel the energy and confidence that it gives you. Ask your Higher Self, God or the Supreme Intelligence of the Universe to fill you with energy, inspiration and ideas. Imagine a little door or vortex opening at the crown of your head – your crown chakra – and then a beam of bright white light shining down from the universe and into the top of your head. This is an incredibly powerful beam of positive energy and information that should rock you to your shoes! Soak in the good feelings of being saturated by this loving positive helpful energy … Close the crown chakra and step out of your golden circle when you are ready and get on with your tasks.
8. Rob a bank!
Grab sackfuls of quality ideas from an ideas bank and run with them! There are various idea banks on the Internet, as well as thousands of blogs, message boards and chatrooms where ideas are mooted. You can also get books full of ideas. Let’s say you are looking for an idea for a new business. You could go to Amazon, order a copy of something like the “Entrepreneur’s Ultimate Start-Up Directory: 1,350 Great Business Ideas!” and you could plunder that bank of ideas directly or indirectly by letting it stimulate you or by recombining its ideas into more formats.
9. Milk your brain!
Milk will only flow from a cow when its teats are squeezed under pressure. It’s the same with your brain! To milk your brain for a bucketful of crème-de-la-crème ideas, you have to squeeze your brain and put it under pressure. The way you do that is to create a target, a deadline, a reward and a forfeit. Let’s say you set the target as 10 workable ideas, to be set down within 20 minutes. If you succeed, the reward is you spend $20 on yourself; if you fail, you give the $20 to someone who doesn’t deserve it and that you don’t like. Everybody is different, so set up a rewards and forfeit scheme that motivates you.
10. The Inquisitive Inquisition!
The brain is a stimulus and response bio-machine. The best way to stimulate it is to ask questions. Questions awaken your creative responses. Remember, the meaning of your communication is in the response you get. So, if you are getting lousy answers, you need to ask better questions. Interview and interrogate your brain to get the flow of ideas you want.
Be the master of your mind. Practice the martial art of Cando and you’ll find you can do anything!
