An Expert’s Perspective – When Brainstorming Doesn’t Work

You’re an original thinker and you’re good at generating new ideas. However, sometimes when you sit down for a brainstorming session, you don’t get the results you want. What are you supposed to do then? Here is a secret technique that will help you access the magic in your unconscious mind once the brainstorming is done. It’s called incubation.

Putting your outline, script, or novel in a drawer and coming back to it down the road is a basic form of incubation. It works sometimes, but you can do better in the short-term if you use a more advanced technique.

Here is the five-step method I advise my writing and directing clients to use:

1. Embrace incubation as a fundamental part of the creative process. Established creative professionals expect it. While they can often come up with a new idea quickly, often the best ideas require some slow-cooking on the brain’s back-burners.

2. Consolidate your material in an organized form. Suppose you like to brainstorm at your desk using pen and paper, and you’ve got five sheets full of arrows, lists and clusters. Don’t just stick those five sheets in a folder—instead, organize all of the information on one side of one sheet of paper so that it can be absorbed in one glance. Stay alert! Sometimes, just the act of consolidating your brainstorming session into a one-sheet will provide the spark of inspiration.

3. Place the one-sheet somewhere visually accessible. This location is the external manifestation of your mind’s back-burner. It shouldn’t be directly in your field of vision because it will take up too much of your attention (that’s where the front burners are), but it shouldn’t go into a drawer either.

4. Refresh your memory from time to time. Every now and then you pick up the one-sheet and take a moment to consider your brainstorming. Sometimes, inspiration will come. Other times, you may notice some items on your one-sheet that you’d like to remove or change. This is a good sign—it reflects the cooking process going on in the depths of your mind. Make the changes and return the one-sheet to the back burner.

5. Check-in with yourself when your mind is relaxed. This will be different for each person, but sometimes, ideas come when we’re showering, driving, exercising, or just about to go to sleep. Rather than berate the muse for her timing, honor the input by keeping pen and paper by your bed and in your gym bag. Keep a digital audio recorder in your car. And if you get a great idea in the shower, consider getting out, drying your hands, grabbing a pen and making a few notes. Sure, you’ll be dripping water all over your floor—but you’ll have grabbed the valuable idea when it presented itself.

Brainstorming and incubation are synergistic techniques. When you are prepared to incubate, you take the pressure off yourself to come up with the ideas you need. This makes your brainstorming better and more effective. Then, once you’ve captured the new ideas, move your project to the front burner and give it your full attention.