Brainstorming
Today there are more options than ever before. There are more ways to get what you want than at any other time in our history.
But:
The alternatives are so overwhelming that… How to choose?
I have known people who spend their time trying everything but delving into nothing. Always thinking that his next idea is the good one. They jump from one thing to another so quickly that they cannot assess what is worth keeping.
If this is your case, what follows will help you clarify your ideas.
Generating options is the closest thing to a “brainstorm”. What does it consist of? It is an intense and short session in which you will record in your notebook all the ideas that occur to you in the matter at hand —either when creating something new or solving a problem—. So that? I quote Linus Pauling to answer this question: "The only way to have good ideas is to have many ideas and discard the bad ones."
When you make your list don't judge, just write down. Even an absurd idea can be the germ of a brilliant idea. Don't stay with the first one that comes up. Link ideas with other ideas and see where they lead you. For sure, you will get a list with more ideas/options than you need. Then you will select and prioritize.
My six favorite questions to generate options are:
1. What have I tried to date?
2. What worked well?
3. What didn't work?
4. What can I do differently next time?
5. What haven't I tried yet?
6. What mental context includes the solution?
Let us now see three simple rules to choose correctly between several alternatives:
Rule 1: Do not choose an alternative until you are clear about the criteria that the best alternative must meet.
Rule 2: the best selection criterion is the one that answers the question: What do I really want to achieve?
Rule 3: Once you have made a decision, take action. Rethinking it is a monumental mistake. Doubt is always the most insane strategy.
For example, suppose for a moment that you decide to change jobs. The first thing you should establish are the criteria that the new occupation must meet (interest, aptitude, suitability, prestige, remuneration, expectations, proximity, schedules, etc.). If you have not established what the basic criteria are, you could accept an "unacceptable" job. Of all these selection criteria, the one that answers the question: What kind of job do I really want? Is the best because it focuses on what you want and not on what is offered to you. And finally, once you have chosen, do not go back to the beginning of the process due to doubts. Seal your decision by making it known.
Many people do not see any opportunity because they are really afraid to choose; and opportunities are often disguised as problems. George Bernard Shaw caught it and wrote: "The people who are successful in this world are the ones who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they don't find them, they create them." Great truth!
If you already have your list of prioritized decisions, the second thing that needs to happen is to take action. Action reveals windows of opportunity: one thing always leads to another. And this is how it happens. Action moves an energy that activates auspicious changes.
make it happen
Imagine that you play soccer in a team. You are good with the ball, you like to touch it, keep possession of it. So far so good except for one small detail. If when you are in front of the goalkeeper you don't release the ball, and you give up the ball, there is no goal. As simple as that.
Well often, that's exactly what happens when you don't get what you want. You get attached to keep wanting it... and that's what happens. When it comes time to act, everything else is superfluous.
The choice to act is not optional, it is imperative.
Start with a small and simple step. After this, you will already discover in which direction you should take the next one. Keep in mind that one does not lose himself as much as when he thinks he knows the way well beforehand. The secret is to start.
The story goes that a traveler came across an old man, who turned out to be none other than Socrates, and asked him, "How can I reach the top of Mount Olympus?" The Greek sage replied: "If you want to reach its summit, make sure that every step you take is in that direction."
I am sure you are aware of this: one thing leads to another, one book leads to another book, one person to another person”…, it always happens that way. What you need, when you need it, it will be there. That's for sure. How could you miss what was set for you?
Intention: information
Attention: Energy.
The sum of the two: applied knowledge.
Making your wishes come true requires courage, probably more than you've ever shown before. Wrapping yourself in inspiring reading helps.
Nothing predisposes the mood as much as a good read. Read motivational texts. With that powerful fuel, spring into action. Then, celebrate the first results even if they are minimal.
You will know that you have learned when others take your example, when you assert yourself in the worst circumstances, only then can you say that you have learned well. Learning is a ladder of infinite steps: where you arrive only depends on your vertigo at heights.
Remember, always in this order: first you make it possible in your imagination, then you make it real with your action. Intention&Attention: make it happen. Takes off.
The Zen of Flow
You can make things happen or allow them to happen.
In certain circumstances, it is necessary to be soft and open to what wants to come to you; and in others, it is necessary to take the initiative. When to do one and when the other? The impeccable consists in combining both creative forces
• Activity and receptivity.
• External action and internal action.
• influence and flow.
· Do and be.
The first consumes energy; the latter raises them. It is the way life breathes when it follows the ancient law of alternation, and it resonates like a heartbeat in the foundations of the world.
You will find out what to apply yourself to because your heart knows what is best at each moment. Alternating activity and receptivity is a dance. You are the dance, the dancer is your dream. Flow is synonymous with no resistance, no judgment, no mind, no action. How to get into flow? Allow life to happen through you. In fact there is nothing to do but rather stop doing. It's action but it's relaxed action.
Flow and you will manifest synchronicities.
Relaxation activates your right brain hemisphere—the door to the unconscious—and that unlocks your creative potential. By activating it, you enter the “world of good ideas”. The right hemisphere, the creative mind, perceives globally and is capable of understanding everything at once. It has the potential of infinity.
As the Romans used to say: “If you have a problem, take it out for a walk”. Move your body, exercise changes the chemistry of the body and activates your point of connection with the infinite intelligence of which you are a part. Thanks to movement you think better and the solution finds you because you stop consuming energy in stressful neural processes. Meditation in action.
How many times has a problem been cleared up at a time when you were not working on it, but resting! As an amateur writer, I know that the creative mind does not work well under pressure. What works best for me is this. I step aside, I am not ego, I stop getting in the way, I flow free of judgments and I allow what I am going to write to reach me.