The Power of Brain Breaks
Internal processes, client deliverables, meetings. Copy machine malfunction, snarky coworkers, the spinning wheel of death. Meetings, your inbox. Meetings.
Sound like a typical workday? Not today. Today, we hurl our corporate inhibitions out the window and unleash the often-forgotten inner child.
If only for five minutes, let’s ignore the impending deadlines and stretch those creativity muscles through a little thing called free association. Read on to turn your case of the Mondays into a deadline-stomping, goal-crushing week.
As Mr. Webster and that guy Merriam tell us, free association is:
1) a: the expression (as by speaking or writing) of the content of consciousness without censorship as an aid in gaining access to unconscious processes especially in psychoanalysis
1) b: the reporting of the first thought that comes to mind in response to a given stimulus (as a word)
2) a: an idea or image elicited by free association
What the heck does that mean?
Try this: take a word, an image, a phrase and let your imagination run wild, as they say. But why? To discover new ideas, find inspiration and exercise your kid brain, of course!
Seriously though, give this simple trick a try the next time you have writer’s block, the next time you glance at your “zero inbox” and the tally creeps up to 376, or the next time you kick off a brainstorm. There’s something to be said for allowing your adult self to act like a kid.
Example: Construction…
Worker. Y-M-C-A. Village People. Costume. Headdress. Feathers. Nature. Panda. Oreo. Crumbs. Bread. Carbs. Run!
Now it’s your turn. 3, 2, 1 ideate!
Piglet
Accordion
Shipping container, just kidding… but you get the drift.
Have some fun!
