Here are some rules to generating ideas that, if followed, will massively enhance your creativity!
The first rule is no judging! Leave your critical faculties at the door during the ideas generation or creative thinking process. There is a time and place for being judgemental and critical and it is after the generation session not during. Remember no matter how ridiculous on the face of it your idea may seem if it excites you then it is at least worthy of further investigation.
The second one is record everything you come up with when you’re being creative be it on dictaphone, on flipchart paper or even on film. You might very well miss the most critical useful part of your idea out if you do not record the entire ideas generation session.
You need to ensure that you build up a rhythm or speed when coming up with ideas. Quantity is more important than quality at this stage which leads us to our next rule.
Give yourself a target number of ideas to come up with. You should always give yourself a challenging number that you and anyone else taking part in the session may very well doubt they can achieve. Whilst many people connect creativity with relaxation and calmness I would suggest that for most of us we are at our most creative when under slight pressure and slight stress. These things will trigger off a small adrenaline rush which can be quite pleasurable.
Try to have fun. Ideas generation and creativity should be fun or at least enjoyable, (some experts believe that true creativity is impossible if you’re not having fun).
Having fun is connected to trying to maintain an attitude of curiosity and excitement. Be nosy! Ask questions! Make the effort to get interested in the things around you. When you think about it boredom is little more than a form of mental laziness, the world around you is intensely interesting.
Let your mind go into free fall and make its own connections. Get out of your own way and see what happens. Most of us have had the experience of trying to solve a problem, forgetting about it and then having the solution pop into our head a day later almost as though someone dropped it in there. This is merely your brain working things out for you and can be cultivated.
Having more than one person involved in the process can help tremendously! You will bounce things off each other and it will be far more fun that being creative on your own.
There will be at least on personal factor in play. We all think better and more clearly under certain circumstances and situations. For me I need to move quickly for you it may be that you need to sit still or think to loud music or eat massive amounts of chocolate. Whatever it is incorporate it if possible into your ideas generation session.
Finally ensure that you are well hydrated and comfortable. Most peoples thinking is impaired when they are uncomfortable, thirsty or hungry.
Good Luck with your ideas generation and creative thinking.