Brainstorm your way through a troubling project to find an answer

Want to dream up some new ideas? Want to invent? Try brainstorming, a very useful tool.

A number of years ago I discovered the act of brainstorming while thinking about how to make use of one of my father’s inventions. He invented a device to attach to the back of the current day telephone, a device which carried lists of telephone numbers.

I started a company, Shorex, which produced the product and tried to sell it to department stores. I sold a dozen to each of three stores and then no more. It was frustrating. A friend then started me on a brainstorming procedure that really changed my life.

The two of us started to brainstorm, to think about ways to produce the product, ways to modify the product, ways to improve the product and also who else might be potential buyers of the product as we modified it. The following are several ground rules for the use of brainstorming.

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First, criticism is ruled out. No adverse judgment of any of the ideas that are offered can be expressed, until later. The goal is to produce a large number of ideas, and the participants must feel free to do so without negative responses to any of the ideas at this time in the process. A positive attitude will certainly stimulate more effective problem solving than a negative attitude, one which looks for faults in any of these first ideas. Keep a creative atmosphere while brainstorming.

Second, welcome freewheeling thinking and sharing of wild ideas as well as quiet ones. A non-critical atmosphere is important. Encouraging wild ideas recognizes that creative ideas are unusual and really wanted and needed during this session. Being imaginative is important in this program and stimulating the imagination of others in the group is not only useful but also important. Even though at the end of the thinking stage many ideas might be seen as impractical, the process will certainly produce at least several fine ideas for the problem that is to be solved.

Third, look for lots of ideas, a large quantity during this brainstorming session. The greater the number of ideas, the more likely there will be one or more that will solve the problem well. It should be obvious that as the number of ideas increases, the number of potentially valuable and useful ideas will also increase. And more ideas might be combined to produce even more useful ones.

Remember that no criticism of any of the ideas is permitted during this session. Just keep those ideas coming out of your brain.

Fourth, when the idea generation session seems to be complete, then see if any of the ideas might be combined with others to produce really strong and effective ones. Two individual ideas might become tremendously more effective if they are combined. Combination and improvement is sought and the process of combination should not be limited by working only on one’s own ideas. Combination is often a great process for success.

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Although most of the time I did my own brainstorming, I found that it works even better if done with two or more persons, even anywhere from four to eight, or even more. Each person is a contributor of ideas and thoughts, and with two or more in the group the number of ideas and thoughts will rise tremendously.

Many inventors work alone while dreaming up new ideas. They practice the principles of brainstorming and when a number of ideas emerge from their brains, they then see how some might be put together to create a new thing.

I have a number of patents for my inventions and I recall how I did the examination of situations to try to create new ways of doing things. One of the things I created was a list that I called creative action catalysts. I used the letters of the word “creativity� as the basis for this, and would like to share it with you now. Copy it if you wish. Notice the added “O!�

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O! — OPTIMISM (ETERNAL OPTIMISM)

C — COMBINE

R — REVERSE

E — ENLARGE (MAGNIFY)

A — ADAPT

T — TINIER (MINIFY)

I — IN PLACE OF (SUBSTITUTE)

V — VIEWPOINT CHANGE

I — IMPROVE

T — TO OTHER USES

Y — YES! YES!

Use these words to generate ideas in your brainstorming session. Each of these words is capable of helping you come up with new ideas, over and over again. And if you feel like combining them, do so. Start to use them soon, and enjoy the results.

These words have enabled me, as well as many others whom I taught, to dream up new ideas, some of which ended up as patents. If you want to generate new ideas for patents, or anything else, then brainstorming and the use of this list of creative action catalysts can change your life.

Sidney X. Shore is a scientist, inventor and educator who lives in Sharon and holds more than 30 U.S. patents.