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time management

You sit at your computer, or you lie on a couch with a notepad and
pencil, or you walk through a park with a tape recorder in hand.

All right, you tell your subconscious. What’s the answer?
And nothing happens.
Now what? You’ve fought hard for this thinking time, and now
you haven’t got a thought.
Relax. You’ve got all the thoughts you need. Your subconscious
isn’t holding out on you. You just asked the wrong question.
Instead of seeking the answer, take a few minutes to try out as
many answers as you can. Here are three ways to do it.

A. Play “How Many Ways?” Make a list of as many possible
solutions or approaches as you can muster. Set a timer for
ten minutes, so that you don’t have to worry about the pas-
sage of time, and just let fly. Don’t stop. Don’t edit, evaluate,
or in any way censor your thoughts. If something pops into
your head, capture it on your list, even if it seems ridiculous.
(I should probably say especially if it seems ridiculous.)

Remember Edison; there are no failures in the creative
process.

“If you want to have a good idea,” advertising executive Alex
Osborne admonished, “have lots of ideas.” (Osborne also coined
the term brainstorming, by the way.)

B. Draw a “Tornado Outline.” Write your subject or goal in
the center of a large sheet of paper (or a whiteboard or flip
chart or whatever you’re comfortable with). Free associ-
ate key words, phrases, statistics, anecdotes, anything that
seems relevant. Again, avoid censoring ideas.

When you’re done, sit for a minute or so more, to see if any
stray thoughts catch up to you. Then begin linking related material
and numbering items, bringing order to the chaos. You now have
a working outline for future work; the hardest part of the process
is finished.

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