Moving the Needle: Get Clear, Get Free, and Get Going in Your Career, Business, and Life!

Chapter 15Mindstorming Ideas

Just as your car runs smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.

—BRIAN TRACY, author of No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline¹

One of the best tools to get going is a concept called mindstorming, a concept popular author and speaker Brian Tracy discusses frequently.

Tracy makes the analogy that building creative brainpower is a lot like building up your muscles in the gym: The more you exercise your ability to think creatively or find solutions to problems, the stronger your brain becomes. One of the best ways to pump “mental iron,” he says, is to engage in a practice he calls mindstorming.

Mindstorming is a technique that facilitates the formulation of new or innovative ideas through a process that involves taking a question or conundrum and then brainstorming with others to provoke one of those aha! moments.

Mindstorming … brainstorming. Aren't we talking about the same thing?

There are some subtle yet important differences. Brainstorming happens when we dedicate a set period to focusing on thinking about one topic or issue and considering all ideas that are generated in the hope of finding a creative solution. A productive brainstorm session promotes thinking outside the box. Brainstorming can ...