This is one of the most powerful creative thinking tools of all.
It is simple, effective, and easy to use. You begin by creating a
partial sentence that requires you to complete the statement.
Here is an example: “We could double our sales if . . . .”
You complete this sentence with as many different ideas as you
can think of.
You could use a statement like this: “We could double the
number of referrals that we get from our customers if we only
. . . .” How would you complete this sentence? Sit everyone
down around the table and commit to generating at least
twenty answers to the statement. The quality of the ideas generated
by this technique is often amazing.
Once you have developed a few good answers, resolve to
take action on at least one of those ideas immediately. Try it
out. See what happens. Get feedback, and make corrections.
Often the original idea will need to be modified to work effectively.
One great idea to double your sales or your referrals can
lead to an enormous surge in business and profitability.
This is an exercise you can do by yourself. Take a sheet of
paper and write your goal or problem at the top of the page in
the form of a question.
Then discipline yourself to write twenty answers to your
question. You absolutely refuse to stop until you have a minimum
of twenty answers.
This is harder than you think. The first three to five answers
will be fairly easy. But the next five answers will be harder, and
the last ten answers may be so difficult that you will feel an
irresistible urge to give up on the whole exercise.
But here’s the good news. The first time you write twenty
answers to a goal or problem phrased as a question, it will be
difficult, like working out physically after a long time off. But
the next time you use this method, you will generate.
The Principle of Maneuver—Remain Flexible at All Times
answers to whatever question you pose much faster. By the
third time, you will find it easier and easier. Soon, you will be
able to use this method to generate at least twenty answers
(and sometimes thirty or forty answers) to any question or
problem you have. And the quality of the answers will delight
you.
Once you have completed your list of at least twenty
answers, select the most obvious answer and take action on it
immediately. This is important. It seems that taking action on
one of your ideas keeps the ideas flowing. This exercise stimulates
your creativity, and acting on your ideas keeps your creativity
going hour after hour.
If you get up in the morning and write your major definite
purpose as a question at the top of the page and then generate
twenty answers to that question, you will be creative all day
long. You will feel as if you have just done a series of vigorous
aerobic mental exercises, which you have. Your mind will
sparkle with ideas, insights, and solutions for hours afterward.
If you practiced mindstorming only five days per week and
didn’t even think on the weekends you would generate at least
a hundred ideas per week. If you practiced mindstorming fifty
weeks per year and didn’t even think on your summer vacation
you would generate 5,000 ideas per year (5 x 20 x 50 =
5,000).
If you then applied just one idea per day, five days per
week, fifty weeks per year, you would be implementing 250
new ideas every year (1 x 5 x 50 = 250) to help you achieve
your goals. Do you think that would have an effect on your
results? You bet it would!
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