To brainstorm means to generate lots of ideas quickly without stopping to judge whether they're good or bad. When your class brainstorms topics for a science fair project, everyone calls out suggestions: robots, volcanoes, plant growth, solar energy. The teacher writes them all down, even the wild ones. The goal is quantity first, quality later.

The key to effective brainstorming is suspending criticism. If someone suggests building a rocket ship and another person immediately says “that's impossible,” the creative flow stops. During brainstorming, you welcome every idea because sometimes a silly suggestion sparks a brilliant one. Maybe the rocket ship idea leads someone to think about aerodynamics, which leads to designing paper airplanes, which becomes a great project about flight.

A brainstorming session might last five minutes or an hour, depending on the problem you're solving.

After brainstorming comes evaluation: you look at your long list and pick the best ideas to develop further. Writers brainstorm story ideas, engineers brainstorm solutions to problems, and event planners brainstorm themes for parties. When you're stuck on a problem, brainstorming with others often reveals possibilities you never would have thought of alone.