Brain Storm Vs. Brain Dump
What is the difference between a brain storm and a brain dump? When you see your favorite entrepreneurs on social media, what do you think of them? Looking from the outside-in, it can be hard to understand everything that was involved in their success becoming real. Before they got started, they had to think about what would motivate them every single day to keep talking all day long about what they do. If they aren’t hired for that job as a position by someone else and decide to be the boss themselves, they better absolutely love it or feel prepared to talk non stop about it, even every boring, frustrating, challenging and confusing parts needed to overcome. In order to know where to start talking and how to create something tangible, every entrepreneur needs to know when to brainstorm and when to brain dump.
These are two very different and extremely important skills for every entrepreneur to have in 2021. Without brain dumping or brainstorming, you can get in a serious creative rut, fall into overworked business habits and never break an income threshold that feels successful. Wherever you are in your business or project planning, you should read my tips for how to have a successful brain dump and turn that into a highly effective brainstorming session.
Over the past year, I’ve launched several new offerings to my business. While I am still in the process of completing out some of those project plans, I would not have been able to even get to the point of launching at least one, let alone the multitude of projects I’ve completed (like launching an e-commerce store with handmade crafts, launching a wellness membership, designing and self publishing a 90 day wellness journal and a business ebook). Yep! In the past year, I planned out and launched all of those projects! If you want to be highly productive, read through my methods for organizing the chaos that comes with having an idea.
What a Brain Dump Is:
Not organized. Just let things flow out of your head like a radio. Tune in and space out, let the thoughts flow onto the page to save for later. I pay particular attention to things I might forget about so I know I don’t have to rely on my memory to get the important stuff done later.
A Release. Clear out thoughts stuck in the back of your mind, especially things you will likely forget or are worried you won’t prioritize at the right time. Cleaning out the shed is important before we start a project that we feel confident in.
Declutter. Releasing this information from your brain means it is stored somewhere else other than your thoughts. You have more room to fill your mind with the important and exciting stuff when you make the space.
Mind Opening. Open your mind and let new thoughts, opportunities, ideas and inspiration in.
What a Brain Storm is:
The moment you recall and reflect on the things you wrote down in your brain dump so your idea starts to become a vision.
When we become more aware of what our priorities are and the priorities we need to pay attention to. This helps us create an organized plan that we can follow in steps and time.
When you strategize your different priorities into a tangible and flexible plan. When you can actually make progress everyday with some direction and motivation.
You organize a list of every detail needed to turn an idea into a plan. Turn the chaos into a future.
Tips for an Effective Brain Dump
I recommend completing a brain dump before you think about brain storming, even just a small one. Occasionally, I’ll get a flash of an idea and need to storm up the basics before I get settled into a full brain dump, but often I already have a sense of the idea I want to brainstorm and I need to clear out my head before I can visualize what I really want to create. A brain dump can really help set your ideas free for a productive and well thought out brain storming session.
To complete an effective brain dump, you don’t need to have too many rules. Typically, I color coordinate themes after I dump everything into my notes, but sometimes if my idea involves a lot of different elements, I’ll create brain dump sections. These sections will be broken up by phases (starting a project, producing a project, launching a project, etc.) or task type/main factors (legal, technical literacy, expenses, busy work, creativity sessions, equipment, materials, etc.).
For a most effective brain dump, I like to consider a few of the biggest factors first and write down everything that comes to mind when I think of what will be required to complete my project. From that list, I can elaborate into different sub sections and begin to color coordinate. Once I dump out most of what I think is needed for my project, I will either start to brain storm or do a little extra research to see if there may be any unexpected factors to take into account down the line. This is usually when I start to research about any skills or tools I need to learn more about (Sometimes I know nothing at all about a skill or subject, but that should not stop you. Learning new things all the time is essential and how a CEO becomes a CEO). This process helps me gauge a timeline but also helps promote a sense that my idea is tangible where taking daily action towards my end goal is a real possibility.
These brain dumps also serve the purpose of keeping us in line with our plans. If we put our plans on hold for a while or get distracted with other work, consistently updating your brain dump while you work towards your goals can keep your momentum, no matter where your motivation or attention is.
Tips for an Effective Brain Storm
Your brainstorming session can be effective using countless methods and tools. To make it work for you, it needs to be intuitive later on. Use colors that appeal to you so you can build a memory system going. Try using colors that indicate a specific type of task (creative, networking, social media, etc.). Make sure you do not over color coordinate or it will be hard to keep track of everything you need to do and you won’t begin to build a memorized routine. When you organize your notes, make sure it is laid out in a system that will make sense consistently over time as you begin to cross things off your list. If you wait months before picking your project back up, things should still make some sense to you.
For the most effective brain storm that I can quickly format into a plan, I like to create note sections for different phases of project production. I review my brain dump and start to organize everything into a timeline so I know exactly what options I have to choose from to add to my to do list when I choose to work on my project every day. Making progress on my projects is much easier to approach when I see everything listed that needs to happen at each stage, together in one section.
Once I organize my brain dump details into a timeline, I can start to include color coordination for types of tasks and can begin to formulate and record details of specifics I can include in my final vision. Here I can really get creative in my notes on what my final product will look like. Sometimes it is really difficult to fully visualize how we want to represent our creative self through what we are offering online, but the brainstorming process alongside different visual and creative experiments can really propel your idea forward. Even if you have already started your business and are deep into your creative growth, organizing all of the boring details of a project can really open your mind to start drafting out what you want to include and visualize with your idea.
How This Can Help You Monetize Your Hobbies & Ideas
The biggest question these days is how to use social media and the online world to make some extra money. Most people don’t just magically make it happen. Regardless of what it is people try to monetize, your idea requires brainstorming to turn it into a successful and active business. What people don’t realize when they start out is that brainstorming isn’t enough to make it happen! There are a lot of elements to running a business and starting one that you need to learn about to be prepared to safely and competently show up to join the world wide online market.
Social media is a great place to start connecting with people about your hobby or passion. Before you can start to monetize anything on the internet, you need to start connecting with people. If you have already been connecting with people on social media and share your offerings on your website or third party profile, there are always ways you can expand, grow and include more angles for making money.
Maybe you are just starting out or are years into offering a product or service, there are always more ways to make money off of that! For example, if you are a crafter that sells knitted and crocheted products, you can also sell patterns, ebooks, plan events, do paid partnerships with brands or create how-to courses for beginners. There are always a variety of ways to make money doing what you do. If you want to get started with one, or branch out and learn new skills to make more money, brain dumping the things you need to accomplish and learn can lead to a super effective brain storm that you can follow as a comprehensive business and project planner.
Organize your next project with my Business Planner. If you are just getting started, the free download is the perfect place to start formulating your idea. If you are a seasoned entrepreneur, it is time for a project organization upgrade. Purchase the Business Planner I used last year to launch 4 new offerings to turn your little dream into a multifaceted and growing business.
True Balance Business Plan
A 4 Stage Business Plan Ebook
Using various planning and organization methods with 8 specific routines you should use for every project and blog post, you will:
- Prepare to plan out every detail of your next project or business feature
- Plan out the various steps needed to complete your project
- Create routines to effectively market your project and turn it into a staple for finding clients or creating passive income
- Get consistent with 8 specific business routines to help your project turn into engaged traffic to your business.
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