Brainstorming Ideas of How to Achieve Your Life Goals

Which brainstorming technique do you use to get new ideas? How do you improve your creative thinking? What do we mean by brainstorming?

What is brainstorming and why should we do it?

Brainstorming is about thinking creatively and generating new ideas to start initiatives or solve problems. Effective brainstorming encourages lateral and divergent thinking, allowing us to explore ideas beyond the expected approaches to challenges.

To achieve our life goals, we must employ some brainstorming. If we have big dreams, then we are likely to face big challenges and therefore we are going to need some creative thinking to help us achieve them.

“Until we are free to think for ourselves, our dreams are not free to unfold.” –  Nancy Kline

The Swiss Army Knife approach to problem-solving

When growing up I used to love going into the woods and pretending I was in a survival situation. I would make shelters, build fires and forage for food. The more experienced I became, the more I would enjoy limiting the tools I would take with me. In some instances, I would take little more than a penknife.

One of my prized possessions was a Swiss Army Knife. As with most Swiss Army knives, mine had several built-in tools, each with a different use. The more I used this multi-tool, the more I found alternative uses for each item. For example, the large blade was good for cutting but could also be used as a small mirror. The flat screwdriver head could be used for screws (not that there were many in the woods) but was also very handy for prying bark off trees. The small saw blade could be used for sawing through branches but could also be used as a scraper to create wood shavings or even as a sort of grater for food.

Having only one tool, even a multi-tool, forced me to think of novel ways to solve problems. I not only started to look at the penknife in a new way, but I also looked at the challenges in a new light. My brain was more open to finding new ways to approach each issue.

How to brainstorm ideas: The Right Questions Multi-tool

And that is the power of creative thinking. By forcing our brains to think divergently or laterally about something we can come up with new ways, and often multiple ideas, for tackling a problem.

The idea of The Right Questions Multi-Tool is to use forced association (or forced connections) as a creative thinking technique. These are approaches that I first came across from Edward de Bono, author of Lateral Thinking, and have proven useful on many occasions, both in my work and personal life.

Here are three of my preferred approaches to brainstorm ideas, options, and solutions:

Forced number association

Forced number association helps generative thinking by giving the brain a target number of ideas to create. For example, using the Rule of 3, you can give yourself a goal of creating three different options to achieve your aim. This is a common approach when developing courses of action for achieving your goal, a subject we will return to with The Right Questions Guidebook tool.

When brainstorming you can give yourself a larger number. Ten or twenty is a manageable number which will also create a good number of divergent options. Therefore, for this technique just follow these steps:

  1. Pick a target number for your ideas (10-20 is recommended)
  2. Now brainstorm ideas until you have hit your target number, recording them as the thoughts emerge.

Handy hint: I often like to use Post-its for this sort of exercise and put them onto a wall or flipchart. In this way, you can play around with how you arrange the words which can lead to new connections, insights and ideas.

Forced word association

Forced word association uses random words, that are generally un-associated with the issue at hand, to force you to think laterally. As with the number association technique, you might want to set yourself a target number of ideas and then follow these steps:

  1. Select a word at random. This can be done by opening a dictionary at random, having random words written on slips of paper you can pull out of a hat, or using an online word generator. There are web options you can use for free such as https://randomwordgenerator.com
  • Consider how the random word could help address the issue you are thinking about. This might not be easy, and the answer might seem to be crazy but don’t worry, the idea here is creativity.

Word Association Worked example 1:

For example, your goal might be to run a marathon and the random word could be ‘rose’. A rose could be a colour, a flavour, a flower, or the name of a person. Maybe you like roses and can reward yourself with some for achieving a run. Perhaps there is a person called Rose who can support you in some way. Maybe you could fuel yourself with rose-flavoured Turkish Delight! It might be you don’t use any of these ideas in the end but forcing the brain to make new connections will help you to look at the challenge from new perspectives.

Word Association Worked example 2:

Another example could be to consider what to do in the holidays. I used randomwordgenerator.com to give me a random word and it gave me ‘morning’. By thinking of the word ‘morning’ along with the idea of ‘vacation’ my brain starts to prompt questions such as what do I like to do in the morning? Where would I like to wake up in the morning? What would the perfect morning look like?

I am also flooded with pictures and memories; the sun coming up over a mountain as my feet crunch through frost-crusted snow, the smell of great coffee in an Italian café, the snuggly feeling of waking up in fresh hotel linen (knowing that I don’t have an alarm forcing me to get up). Suddenly I am full of ideas of things I want to do! And that is just one word and a few seconds of thinking.

“It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all” – Edward de Bono

Forced picture connections

The forced picture association method is the same as forced word association, except, as the title suggests, you use pictures instead of words. You can use magazines, photo albums or books for your pictures or free online resources such as https://randompicturegenerator.com. Just follow the same steps as used for the word association.

Expert tip: combine all three techniques by setting yourself a target number and then using a mixture of words and pictures for inspiration. Place them all on a large surface and experiment with their placement. Get some friends involved with the process to improve the diversity of thought in the creative process.

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” – Edward de Bono

Making creative thinking a habit

The best way to become more creative is to experiment with these and other techniques. We can improve our ability to think of ideas if we practice so why not start now? Pick a goal you want to achieve or a challenge that you need to overcome and apply one or more of the exercises above. Once you have tried a technique, even just for a few minutes, you are much more likely to use such a tool again and develop better thinking habits.

As well as brainstorming with lateral thinking techniques, the other tool I often use is Mind-maps. You can find out more about mind mapping in my article on What is Mind Mapping and Why Should I Use Mind Maps?

“To find yourself, think for yourself” – Socrates

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!

Which is the Best Course of Action?

Choices. We have so many choices. But what is the best choice? How can we make sure we are doing the right thing? Can we ensure that we are choosing the right way and the best course of action?

One of the biggest challenges of decision-making is generating, assessing, and then choosing from among the different solutions there are to any given challenge. This is why for most decisions we use heuristics – simple rules of thumb – to avoid the extra brain power needed to make decisions. In neurological terms, we save load on the pre-frontal cortex by using automatic routines saved and accessed through the limbic system.

But we can’t always do that. Often, we are faced with a new or more important decision where we cannot entirely rely on previous experience. That might be buying a car or property, changing jobs, or just working out what to do in our free time, but if the choice has a large impact on time and money then we are likely to spend longer considering our options. Working out the best course of action (or “COA” in military parlance) is therefore a critical element of effective decision-making.

Asking the right questions to improve your decision

This stage of the decision-making cycle is all about considering options. By this point, we should have already established why we want to do something, what exactly we want to achieve and where we want to end up. Considering courses of action is about choice, we use the interrogative “which” within The Right Questions Framework. In other words, we are answering the questions:

  • Which options (courses of action) are available to me?
  • Which risks and opportunities will impact my decision?
  • Which is the best course of action?

This phase can be further broken down into several steps. To help make the best choice we want to:

  1. Brainstorm multiple options
  2. Refine several courses of action
  3. Assess the courses of action
  4. Identify obstacles and risks
  5. Decide the preferred option

This can be remembered with the acronym BRAID.

Having made the decision, we then move on to the next phase of decision-making where we develop the plan (and answer the howwho and when questions). But for now, let’s examine the four steps outlined above.

YouTube Video: How do you make good decisions and choose the best course of action?

Brainstorming your options: questions that will help you

When facing an important decision, it is generally a good idea to brainstorm multiple ideas before narrowing down the options. This is an important phase as it can unearth new ways of approaching a problem and can free us from certain assumptions. If we restrict ourselves at this stage to what we think is just sensible, affordable, or realistic then we might miss out on important opportunities or insights.

For example, when I am coaching people, I often get them to answer a set of questions that explore multiple ways of looking at an issue. These might include:

  • What do you think you should do?
  • What is the logical thing to do?
  • What would someone you respect do?
  • What do you dream of doing?
  • What would you do if resources were not a problem?
  • What would make you happy?
  • What would make you sad?
  • What would you do if you could turn back the clock?

Brainstorming with a team

When I go through this process I prefer to do some thinking on my own first. I would recommend that any team starts by working as individuals first, even if for just a few minutes. This means everyone is fully engaged with the process and you avoid group-think. The team then benefits from two different levels of creativity; the personal and the team dynamic. If you start with the whole group it is likely that some of the individual ideas will be lost.

Once you have drawn some initial observations on your own you can address the challenge again in a team environment.  Other people will always bring an alternative view of a problem. So, I would recommend involving at least one other person in the thinking. Even if they just act as a sounding board of your ideas it will bring diversity to your thinking.

Lateral thought and forced association technique

You can also use lateral thinking techniques to generate ideas. One of the simplest lateral thinking techniques, and one I use when I am stuck for ideas, is the Forced Association technique. This method involves getting a set of random words or pictures and then linking them to the problem. This psychological hack forces our brain to create new neural pathways, linking otherwise associated packets of information in our neocortex. These new mental maps literally expand our minds to think of the problem in new ways and explore new solutions. If you want some help getting the random data then you can use free websites such as randomwordgenerator.com or  randomwordgenerator.com.

For example, I am trying to think of what I want to do in my summer holidays. I used randomwordgenerator.com to give me a random word and it gave me ‘morning’. By thinking of the word ‘morning’ along with the idea of ‘vacation’ my brain starts to prompt questions such as:

  • What do I like to do in the morning?
  • Where would I like to wake up in the morning?
  • What would the perfect morning look like?

I am also flooded with pictures and memories; the sun coming up over a mountain as my feet crunch through frost-crusted snow, the smell of great coffee in an Italian café, the snuggly feeling of waking up in fresh hotel linen (knowing that I don’t have an alarm forcing me to get up). Suddenly I am full of ideas of things I want to do! And that is just one word and a few seconds of thinking.

I recommend having a play with the technique, even now for something you must do today. And if you are interested in exploring more techniques, then I recommend reading Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono.

“Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.”

Edward de Bono

Generating courses of action

Once you have brainstormed a long list of potential options, the next step is to refine this list down to a few preferred courses of action. Using the heuristic of The Rule of 3 I generally recommend three courses of action which can be developed in outline and inform a decision.

You could prioritise your list from the options using your intuition and what feels like the best option.

For example your intuitive options might be:

  1. What is the most exciting option?
  2. What is the most sensible option?
  3. Which is the scariest option?

Alternatively, you might want to apply some rationale to the selection of your courses of action. One simple way to come up with three courses of action is to look at resources. You might ask:

  1. What is the option if money is no object?
  2. What is the option if time is no problem?
  3. What is the option if people and skills are no problem?

Example of 3 Generic Courses of Action for projects and tasks:

When making a business or project plan then there are some other questions we can consider to create courses of action. For example:

  1. Which course of action best fits what is most likely to happen?
  2. Which course of action represents the worst possible situation?
  3. Which course of action allows for the swiftest outcome?

Answering these questions allows three courses of action and outline plans that reflect

  1. The logical plan (most likely)
  2. The contingency plan (worst case)
  3. The fastest effect plan (which is often the riskiest or costliest)

These questions work well when dealing with a critical (time-dependent) issue, so if these questions don’t suit (for example if money rather than time was the most important factor) then you could also ask:

  1. Which is the most elegant (gold-pated) option?
  2. Which is the simplest (silver) option?
  3. Which is the cheapest (bronze) option?

Once three courses of action have been selected then the next step is to explore a simple outline plan for each. To do this we answer the questions:

  • How will we achieve the goal (what are the necessary milestones, tasks, or steps)?
  • How will this course of action be resourced?
  • When could or should each step be achieved?
  • Who can help or support each activity?

At this stage, we are not doing detailed planning so the answers to each of these can be simplified.

It is worth noting that this technique tends to favour business plans rather than personal plans. If you would like another way to prioritise your courses of action, I would recommend seeing which ones align most with your values (be that your personal values or organisational values). Using principles also helps us assess our three courses of action so we will explore that in the next section.

Assessing the courses of action using values and principles

Once we have three courses of action (with outlined plans to check their feasibility) the next stage is to assess them against each other and come up with the chosen course. As previously, you can just use your intuition to make the choice, but you may also want to apply some further logic. If you do have an initial gut feeling about which one you like, then make a note of it. Our intuition is based on our experience and preferences – so it is certainly worth considering – but it is also subject to our biases so it is worth noting to avoid subconscious bias subverting our decision-making.

My preferred way of assessing courses of action is by scoring them against a set of principles or values. To start, I will generally create a matrix, listing the courses of action on one axis and then the principle on the other. I then fill in the grid, scoring each course of action against each value out of 10. I then create a total score for each per the example below.

Principle 1 Principle 2 Principle 3 Total Score
Course of action 1 (Score 0-10)
Course of action 2
Course of action 3
Assessing Courses of Action against principles

There is no limit to the number of principles you want to employ but for simplicity, I would not recommend any more than 7-8.

The principles you choose are dependent upon the decision. You might want to use your personal values if it is a choice that most impacts you, such as a change of career. If you are making a business decision then you may want to use your organisation’s corporate values. Equally, there may be a set of specific principles you want to apply. For example, in an investment decision, you might want to employ principles from an expert such as Warren Buffet. It is worth taking a little time to make sure you have the most appropriate precepts to score your courses of action against.

Assessing courses of action with opportunity and risks

An alternative or subsequent way to assess the course of action is considering opportunity versus risk. It might be that risk was considered as one of your principles but if not then it is worth thinking about now. Identifying and assessing risk is a subject in itself but for each course of action, it should be relatively easy to identify the top 3-5 most significant risks.

These risks should then be weighed against the overall opportunity. As with risk, it might be that your chosen principles best summarise the opportunity of a given course of action. If not then consider the potential pay-off, in time, money or quality, for each course of action. Then you can weigh the risk versus the reward. For example, sometimes it is riskier to move quickly on a decision but the payoff – in terms of cumulative gain, time saved or first mover advantage – might be a risk worth taking. This is effectively a simple cost-benefit analysis of your courses of action.

Making the right choice (and better future decisions)

Finally, having assessed the courses of action you can make your choice. Depending upon which course of action scored the highest or had the best balance of risk versus opportunity, you can now commit to that option.

Having made the decision, you can then go on to more detailed planning. You will likely find that your new plans will also incorporate lessons from the other options you looked at. For example, you might well keep the worst-case or contingency plan up your sleeve just in case something goes wrong. Equally, you might have a plan that has stages that incorporate further decision points, dependent upon the balance of risk and reward. As the plans develop, you will discover that the thinking at this stage is not wasted.

Going through this process of creating and assessing courses of action has a further benefit. The formal process forces us to think deeper which will reinforce any learning points for the next decision. Recording the process, and the final choice, also allows us to go back and measure how effective our decisions were. We will not always get things right, but this reflective process will help improve overall decision-making. Decision-making is a skill like any other and for effective learning, we need to be able to reflect on what we have done.

Picking the best course of action

So, if you have options and want to make the best-informed decision follow these BRAID steps:

  1. Brainstorm multiple options (be creative)
  2. Refine courses of action (down to 3 ideally)
  3. Assess the courses of action (against principles or values)
  4. Identify obstacles (and mitigate the risks)
  5. Decide upon the best course of action (make the choice)

And one final tip, think about when you want or need to make the decision. It is easy to prevaricate, put off a decision, or miss an opportunity entirely. Setting a deadline and creating a timeline for your decision-making helps to avoid these outcomes. Depending upon the impact of the decision you might want to spend 5 minutes or 5 hours thinking through your choice, but as productivity experts will tell you, the best starting point is assigning time to make the decision, as that is a task in itself.

So, what decision do you need to make and when? If you can’t make the choice now, then take a few seconds to schedule time in your diary. And if you want some further advice on the steps to take then check out A Blueprint for Better Decision-Making.

“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”

Sun Tzu

If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions

About The Right Questions

The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.

Need help navigating your journey to success?

I love to serve people, helping them unlock their potential, empowering them as leaders, and assisting them in achieving their goals. Please get in touch and let me know how I can support you!