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Gwen Cheeseman

"IDEAS are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen," said John Steinbeck.

Most of us have the ability to come up with ideas and problem-solve fairly easily, but may not know how to go about it. Using certain techniques, you can learn to `free your creativity', making the whole process of generating ideas become quicker and a lot less painful.

Warm-up your mind: Before you start your brainstorming session you can maximise your brainpower on the subject by warming up.

For example, if you are brainstorming for a project, take time to sit and read what has been produced so far. Or if you have to solve a problem, write down what the problem is, and what the desired outcome needs to be.

You need to know what your goal is to help your mind focus.

The more the better: When brainstorming, you should try and come up with as many ideas and thoughts as possible, as this makes it more likely that you'll end up with several really good ones.

Take a large sheet of paper, and in the middle write down the subject or task you need ideas for. Time yourself for 20 minutes, and write down absolutely everything that comes into your head, whether you think it's relevant or not.

Let your mind go: You won't end up using all the information you write down anyway, so don't be afraid of noting down anything that comes to mind.

This technique of letting go and allowing your mind to `ramble' can really unleash your creativity. If you stop to criticise your notes, or stop yourself writing something down because you don't think it's good enough, you can block your natural thought processes and end up losing good ideas.

Cut it down: When you have finished brainstorming, it's best to take a break. Don't look at the sheet of paper for at least 10 minutes. After that, you are ready to go back to your ideas and begin judging them.

There will probably be phrases and words on your brainstorming sheet that are not relevant to your task, and were merely part of letting your thought processes go. So cross these out on your sheet.

As you read through your notes, continue to pare them down, removing anything irrelevant or simply not good enough.

Group together: The next stage is to see if you can group any of your notes together. Are there any random words or phrases that are related? You should now have created a few groups which you can begin to study in more depth. These should be forming as clear ideas.

If you feel you're on to something but there isn't quite enough information there, then take each idea and brainstorm around them separately, just as you did originally.

Again, don't be afraid to write down anything and everything to keep your creative thought processes flowing.

(Edited extracts from Student Accountant, a journal of ACCA, London. www.accaglobal.com)

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How to free your creativity

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