How to Transcend Your Brainstorming Limitations

A reader asked this week: "Is your ability to brain storm limited to your experience and your culture?"

That's an interesting question. And the answer has to be 'Yes." and 'No.'

Brainstorming alone - by yourself - would tend to restrict you to what you know. In fact, some research suggests that the human brain cannot even see things which it does not know.

Brainstorming with other people would include by definition, a greater variety of experience and culture. And your choice of brainstorming partners would govern how diverse that range would be.

But there is another thought.

There is something known as - among other things - the 'collective unconscious'.

It says that everything is connected. You've probably heard of the '100 monkeys syndrome' where once skills develop to critical mass in one place they suddenly and spontaneously start appearing in other geographic places that have never had contact with the source of the skills.

Tap into that, and you transcend your own experience and culture very quickly.

How? Try meditation.

Or if you're a more active type, set aside 45 minutes and spend it diligently writing down evey possible thought about your topic that you can. Really squeeze your brain dry. Then walk away and forget it.

Odds are your brain will pester you for days, often at the most inopportune times, with a startling range of insights and ideas to expand your brainstorming.

So, yes, you can be limited by your experience and your culture. Or you can choose to transcend it.