Writing a project plan. Brainstorming and getting GREAT ideas.

Unlock your inner genius and write that killer creative project plan!

Everything seems fine until you upset it a little. When you turn it over, you discover new things about it. When you probe, you reveal hidden wonders.

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OK, onward. This first step gives you an amazingly powerful technique for discovering brilliant ideas and plans.

6. Action. Brainstorming for ideas.

Questions:

1. What are all the possible things you can do to make this plan great?

2. What are more things you can do to make this plan great?

Background:

When that new idea hits, when that inspiration just pops into your brain, it is an awesome feeling. The great news is, you don't need to wait around for it to happen. There are specific techniques you can use to unleash your creative genius and get the brilliant idea. Make sure to put yourself in an inspired and stress free state of mind first.

A fantastic brainstorming technique for writing a project plan is called "clustering." This involves a piece of paper, pencil, and about five minutes of your time. You will be amazed! Here's how it works.

1. Write the central word or phrase you're looking for ideas about in the middle of the page. Put a box around it.
2. Now, without pausing to really think, draw a line and right the first related word that comes to your mind.
3. Draw a line from that word and write another one. You can go a few generations. There is no right or wrong.
4. When that chain is full, draw another line in another direction with a different word or phrase that pops into your mind. You can do this as many times as you like.
5. When you feel you have a lot, look over all the words you've written and circle the ones that excite you the most.
6. You may wish to then cluster around that new phrase. As you wish, you may do. At the end of a few minutes, you should have some surprising new ideas.

Then comes the time to start digging deeper into them, to see if they stand up to scrutiny, and if they excite you enough to write the plan.

7. Action. Focus your creative project plan.

Questions:

1. What are the ideas you've come up with that you are most excited about?

2. Which of those ideas will you practically be able to implement?

3. What ideas are unnecessary and possibly distracting?

4. What ideas should you do?

Background:

Now that you have a few thousand ideas (LOL), it's time to take the absolute best. Focus on the things that are central to your project, not slightly related. Do not get caught up in details that distract you from your main goal.

Trust your intuition. If an idea makes sense and gives you a visceral feeling of excitement, it's a keeper. Put it into your creative project plan.

8.  Action.  Get supportive feedback on your plan.

Questions:

1. Who is the best person to ask about your creative project goal?

2. How will you get honest, constructive feedback from them?

3. Based on what they tell you, how can you improve your plan?

Background:

Supportive and honest feedback is priceless. Well-meaning relatives who don't want to hurt your feelings are not the best sources for feedback. Neither are people who constantly want to knock you down. Find people who know of what you plan, and you truly want to help you.

When asking for feedback, there are four words you must know and use. "Is there anything else?". Even the objective observers may hold back in giving criticism. By asking again and again if there is anything else, you get past that resistance. That is when you will get the most valuable information. In a way, this is an extension of brainstorming. You keep pushing beyond the first ideas.

Choose the advice you are going to follow as best you can. Nobody can tell the future, you have to trust your mind and your gut.

9.  Action.  Finalize your creative project goal.

Questions:

1. Again, what is your creative project goal?

2. What will it look, sound, the like, as specifically as possible?

3. What last brilliant improvement can you make?

Background:

This project is really exciting you now. If you feel that drive to get going, you're doing good stuff. Now it's time to once again envision your product. Incorporate all the wonderful additions and revisions that have fired you up.

And then ask one more time. Put one more beautiful adornment on the icing, and your cake will win the gold.

    Result.  You have a clear vision of what your finished project will be like. You have discovered amazing new ideas to make this creative project better than you hoped. You already have a specific concept of what you will need to do to achieve your creative project goal.

Your creative project plan is now inspired and screaming to be done. One more step in writing a project plan -- go!

Let's go on to phase 3, planning the practical steps