The 15-min brainstorm
An easy, tiny step away from procrastination
TLDR: start small with a brainstorm
Word count: 487
Read time: 2 mins
Habit experts talk a lot about starting small. BJ Fogg’s book is literally called Tiny Habits, and James Clear urges us to make the habit ‘easy’ in Atomic Habits. They both give plenty of examples in their respective bestselling books. Fogg suggests flossing just one tooth and Clear suggests that we merely put our gym clothing out for the next day. I’ve offered 10 examples in a previous post.
Here’s another idea, more flexible than any of those. It can be used for virtually any task for which some thinking is required. So it’s useful most of the time, for most of us. It’s the brainstorm. Specifically, the 15-minute brainstorm.
This is a real treat of a task. The pressure’s off, no one’s looking, it’s just you - and in this situation the business platitude ‘there are no bad ideas’ is as close to being true as it ever is. This is fun and creative. It clarifies the task and builds momentum for it. And it can definitely be done in 15 minutes.
It’s applicable in many situations, a report that needs to be written, a business decision that needs to be taken, even just an email that needs to be carefully responded to.
I do this every single time I write one of these blogs. In fact, here’s what this very blog looked liken straight after my 15-min brainstorm:
pressure's off, no one's looking, no bad ideas, just you, etc
thoughts occur
feed the mind with some relevant info.
use the web
use GenAI
first stage in my essay-writing method (link)
fun, creative
clarifies task
builds momentum
can def do in 15 mins. in fact, 15 mins is the ideal duration for this
what this looked like, after 15 mins
it's the advice of clear and fogg and countless others - start small.
follow with some diffusive activityNotice that while this is raw, some of the wording was deemed apt enough to make the final cut.
How to do it
Identify a task. Often this will be something you’ve been putting off because it’s difficult.
Open a blank page (digital or physical)
Just jot down ideas that occur that may be relevant for the task at hand. If in doubt, jot it down. Bullet points work very well for me.
If you get stuck, read up on a pertinent document or look up a related source online, or prompt GenAI to come up with some assistive ideas.
Then give yourself some time (ideally to include a night’s sleep) for the brain to mull it over and come up with additions and refinements.
Then come back to the list and edit it ruthlessly. There are bad ideas now, lots of them! But what remains is likely to be useful and set you up nicely for what you need to do with it next.
The first stage in my writing process (for a blog or a book) is always this.
Marc
Links you may like
7 days of Timeboxing (the free email micro-course)
Timeboxing, the book (US)
Timeboxing, the book (UK)
Connect with me on LinkedIn (I will say yes!)