Brainstorm While on a Road Trip

Bill Millikin

One of my best times for brainstorming is when I have a short road trip to make. Each week, lately, I've been driving from my home to another city about 75 miles away. Rather than listening to music or tapes or cds, or whatever, I turn off the radio, stereo and everything else and let my mind be my "entertainment".

I also leave road-warrior status behind, putting the car on cruise control at a speed that keeps me in the middle of the speed range on the highway. That way I'm not fighting to get there first, but able instead to just drive and think. [ Of course there are STILL warriors out there who cause grief, but I work to just ignore them and stay with my mental projects ]

Sometimes, I do what I call productive monkey-braining, which is letting my subconscious come up with things to think about, which lead to more things to think about and so forth. When a subject 'comes' up that is about a problem I"m having, or an issue I"ve been trying to solve, I can stop random thinking and go into brainstorm mode.

In brainstorm mode, I let myself think of any and every idea that comes to mind regarding the topic I"ve selected to think about. Very often, when doing this, I find a solution to my problem that I had not thought of before.

Most times, by the time I finish the trip, either one direction or the other, I have solutions or very exciting ideas for at least one, if not more of the project challenges I am working on.

This technique also works well, without going through the monkeybraining mode. Rather, I leave with a "problem" in mind and just let my mind work on it as I drive. When I arrive at my destination, I usually have a solution or two or three... I think the distraction of driving is just enough to release the good thinking and let the answers come.


This site is no longer updated.

Click this link to have updated self help news and articles.

About the Author

©2005 All rights reserved