Brainstorming Doesn’t Work–Try These Three Alternatives Instead from Fast Company
Our brains’ creative flow isn’t time-bound the way the typical brainstorm is. Here are a few ways to shake things up.
People aren’t necessarily more creative in groups than alone, or vice versa. In fact, creativity needs both conditions; our performance peaks when we alternate–first working alone, then coming together to share our ideas, then going off by ourselves again to mull over what we heard. It’s a process. This is because our brains’ creative engines are fueled both by quiet mind-wandering, allowing novel and unexpected connections to form, and by encountering new information, which often comes from other people.
The typical brainstorm over-delivers on the latter and under-delivers on the former, which means that for lots of people, brainstorming is an utter nightmare. Introverts just feel alienated, and extroverts aren’t pushed to reflect more deeply on the ideas they’ve batted around amongst themselves.
Here are three alternatives that can help you sidestep all of these issues and actually get something done.
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