Put your brain on steroids… Or list making for beginners

This IS my happy super excited face..

This IS my happy super excited face..

I’ve started making lists.

Yes, lists.

Lists of answers.

Lists of ideas…

Screw the todo lists, this will get your brain flowing again.

Making lists might sounds boring but it really isn’t if you’re writing answers to the right questions.

I also started asking other people to make lists.

Yesterday, I gave approximately twenty people the following question for them:

         What are 10 Ways you could sell your artwork?

When people got stuck writing their answers (we had just finished a 90 minute workshop where we talked about hundeds of ways to market and sell their art.) I told them that if they didn’t put down 10 answers, they wouldn’t be allowed to leave…

Everybody eventually left, so I think they all made progress!

This morning I asked someone else to brainstorm a list of 10 ways she could make and additional $1 and $1000 in the next 30 days.

It really got the ideas flowing.

It really was like my brain was on steroids!

I wish I could claim this was all my brilliant idea, but it’s not.

I’ve read 3 of James Altucher’s books over the last month and he talks about this extensively in a lot of his writings. James is one of my new heros. His hero journey is outrageous, made and lost hundreds of millions of dollars in his lifetime. Numerous times! Holy shit batman, that’s ridiculous.

Whenever I’m struggling now I think of him. Shit. If he can pick himself back up, dust himself off and keep going, why would I worry when something gets in my way to my perfect vision of my life or my business.

James credit’s his list making as the number one way he was able to get back and get a life. And money. He kept sharing his ideas with people. Here’s what wikipedia says about him: “

James Altucher is an American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, bestselling author, and podcaster. He has founded or cofounded over 20 companies, including Reset Inc. and StockPickr and claims to have failed at 17 of them.”

I wasn’t kidding when I said he made and lost 100’s of millions. Oh, and that failure thing. He talks a lot about that as well and what to do to get over it. Why you can write miserable ideas down on your list of 10 whatever’s but if you keep trying, one of the might be a good idea. One of them might even be a great idea.

His wife has written an even more brilliant book called “The Idea Machine” and I’m using that everyday as one of my core things I do every single day. She guides you through a series of 10 things you can brainstorm ideas about. I’m not very far along yet, but it has totally transformed how I view things. I’ve found that it’s impossible to stop myself from acting when that absolutely amazing idea comes out. It’s like, holy shit, I’ve got to tell people about this!

You can’t possibly get stuck in procrastination and overthinking when you’ve just dumped hundreds of ideas out there. Yeah, maybe a lot of them will suck, but then, there just might be one that I absolutely have to act on.

Like this blog. I’m a major writing procrastinator. I don’t know why I find it so hard to put pen or paper or fingers to keyboard… Yet wanting to share this amazing resource has me pushing this out as fast as I possibly can!

I highly encourage you all to check out James’books, and his Claudia’s Books as well.

I would love to get your comments.