In the corporate world, I went through this exercise, one that I’m sure most everyone has heard about–brainstorming.
It works like this: everyone sits in a room and they have a task to complete, a hurdle to overcome, a job to do. They start brainstorming. Storms of the brain. Every idea is captured. Every idea is given attention. No matter how stupid, no matter how brillant, every idea is documented. It’s a flow, a creative flow.
This is a great idea, to brainstorm, and it’s a good exercise for any group. And, every idea gets the same attention. There is no bad idea.
My goal everyday is to create. To create what? Doesn’t matter. I need to start flowing, start capturing, start brainstorming. I want it to flow naturally, creatively, strangely, challengely. It needs to have an outlet, a place where I can express.
This weekend, I attended a conference called Reach. It was a creative media conference. I saw productions that challenged me creatively. I heard speakers challenge me intellectually, emotionally, creatively. The general theme was this–there are lots of ideas out there. Lots of people have good ideas, even great ideas. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but only a few ideas get started. Only a few ideas come to fruition. You’ve gotta push out from the shore and start rowing if you’re going to see an idea come to life. You can stay tied up to the dock all your life with a good idea, but unless you push out, you’ll never go anywhere.
I’m ready to push out on some ideas.
Start rowing.