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Random Word Brainstorming
There are many ways to come up with new ideas—and this one is kind of wild!It's called random word lateral thinking.
The way it's played is quite simple, and it sure does work well once you get going. It's basically using a random word to brainstorm for new ideas.
Here's an example…
Let's say I want to write a new ebook. My random seed word is "down" (I'll explain how I got that word in a moment).
So how can I use the word "down" to get ideas for this new ebook? I could think of titles where I could use that word:
- Down and Dirty Negotiating Tactics
- What to Do When Your Website is Down
- Down Home Design: Great Home Decorating Ideas from Ordinary People
- Down with Dumb: Smart Advice for Wise Living
- Getting Down to Business: A "Get-Going" Guide for Procrastinators
- Emotionally, "down" represents being bummed out or mildly depressed. We could write about dealing with the blues that procrastinators feel when they fail to get things done.
- Down is also fine, soft feathers. In digital art, "feathering" is used to soften the edges of an object or mask. One topic could be about softening the edge of self-criticism so the procrastinator isn't buried in guilt.
NOTE | See how the seed word can be expanded through associations with linear ideas? We went from down, to feathers, to feathering, to softening the edges of self-criticism . . . that's the "lateral" thinking part. |
- A down is also an attempt to advance the football across the goal line in (American) football. Another topic could be "advancing the ball" toward our goal of overcoming procrastination.
- A down payment is to put a deposit on something, usually with an agreement to repay the balance in installments over time. Another topic could be how overcoming procrastination isn't usually a one-time event, but instead success comes step-by-step over time.
- Some stories get passed down from generation to generation. Another topic could deal with how procrastination is sometimes a learned behavior, passed down from a parent to a child.
- See how random word brainstorming works? It can give you all sorts of useful ideas you wouldn't likely have thought of using traditional thinking.
Finding a Seed Word
To come up with that seed word, I went to a newspaper site, click on a sports story, and whatever the 7th word of the first sentence was, that was the word I would use as an example for this article. This was the beginning of the first sentence:The Journal Sentinel's Tyler Dunne sat down for an informal Q&A with Packers cornerback...
You want to make sure you use a truly random word. If you try to guide the word choice you'll be doing so from your current thinking, and that's not what you want.The idea is to step completely outside of the target to a true point of randomness, and then work backwards to the target with ideas.
There are many ways to come up with a random word. For example, grab a book and look at your watch. If the second hand is on 43 seconds when you look, open the book to a random page and use the 43rd word. Or open it to page 43 and use the first word, or the last word.
Or, open the book to the page equal to the month you were born, and use the word that corresponds with the date you were born. For example, if your birthday is May 22 you'd open the book to page 5 and use the 22nd word.
Or, to keep things simple, go type "random word generator" into a search engine, pick one, and let a random word generator pick a word for you. There are lots of ways to do it, and it doesn't matter which you use as long as it's truly random.
Do try to use the word you first pick, otherwise you'll be guiding the process, and as I explained, that doesn't work as well.
Skip proper names, brand names, diseases, stop words (a, and, the, are, is, etc.), foreign words and words that don't lend themselves at all to creativity, like aspic or arachnophobia.
You're after plain old dictionary words. Nouns work best. You can make a rule that you'll only use nouns if you like. Other than that, stick to the suggestions I've made for the best results.
It may not be easy at first, but once you get going you'll be amazed at how many ideas you can come up with. After you use this technique for a while it becomes a lot easier to fall into the flow of ideas.
With or Without an Existing Topic
You can use this idea without an existing topic, as I did above when I brainstormed title ideas; or you can use it with a topic you already have in mind. That's basically what I did in the second stage where I used the random word to find ideas to write about once I had chosen my title.In other words, you can use this system to generate a topic to write about; or you can use it to generate ideas to write about for a topic you already have in mind.
Here are a few tips…
- Look up your word in the dictionary and see the different definitions and usage examples. You may not think of them all on your own. It's a good way to get started.
- You can change seed words if one isn't working, just don't give up on a word too soon, especially in the beginning. Getting started the first time is the hardest part, but once the ideas start coming it's like turning on an idea faucet . . . the ideas just keep flowing.
- If you run out of ideas from one word, you can choose another random seed, or go linear with your original seed word. What does that mean? Go plug the seed word into a synonym finder and use synonyms.
NOTE | I like to use The Rhyme Zone to find synonyms. Type in your word, change the drop-down menu from Find Rhymes to Find Synonyms, and explore. I also like the Find Definition option because it offers definitions and examples of usage, which can also help. |
Random word brainstorming can be used in many different ways, not just how I demonstrated. Whatever subject you want to generate ideas for, this method can probably be used effectively. For example, you could use it to:
- Generate new ways to enhance your website or business
- Generate new blog post ideas
- Generate customer service ideas
- Generate new project ideas
- Generate ideas to keep the kids busy
- Generate ideas for new recipes
- Generate guaranteed winning lottery numbers
Hopefully this little brainstorming activity will help you generate loads of new ideas whenever you need them. Good luck!
