DaJobSucks

I read a book a while back, sorry I don't remember its name, that claimed that 95% of all business came out of desperation, people who had no choice but to rely on themselves for their own salary. They can't take comfort in a monthly salary, but their salary is based on how much work they put in and how creative they can be.

While I would not wish desperation on anyone, it is through the same desperation that you may accomplish more than you ever did with a full time job. The main reasons why desperation spurs industry is that:

1. YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT AND WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO DO SO. We will generally sacrifice much if we know that our actions will impact ourselves and our families directly. Knowledge of the fact that no work may mean no food can be very motivating. 
2. Most importantly, you tend to be more creative, as you have nothing but time to think and come up with ideas that you would not have time to do with a nine to five.

Creativity is a function of time and unbridled thought. No boundaries, no disturbances, no boss calling you to come up with a quick fix for problems. We have the time to expand our craniums, you know, that thing we have dedicated to lining our bosses pocket. We now have time to conjure schemes to line our own pockets.

Take the time today to be creative if you have nothing to do you may surprise yourself. Use what you have been given and don't wait for a job to come out of thin air.

Brainstorming can be a very useful tool, however, if it is not used properly, it can be as useless as some of our elected officials who seem to make decisions without much thought and pain staking, brain throbbing deliberation.

The business world seems to have taken the approach mentioned above with Brainstorming. The key deficiency I have noticed and which is usually the 800 pound gorilla in the room, is ensuring that all is prepared for brain storming sessions, that is, all should know what is to be discussed so that they can have time to put their ideas together before the meeting.

Persons should be given at least a day to do their own deliberations so that all will come to the table with ideas that have gone through their own personal cerebral grinders. This would avoid knee jerk decision making which I swear has taken over our business universe. We have abused brain storming to the point where it sometimes runs contrary to its intended purpose, which is to resolve pressing issues quickly, through combining the ideas and thoughts of all the persons involved in the meeting.

I know, the idea of having a brainstorming session is to resolve issues quickly so time may not be available, however, if decisions are rushed then you may require more time in the future to fix issues caused because you wanted to make decisions quickly.

For your next brain storming meeting, give your staff more time to come up with ideas so that you can get higher quality resolutions that add value to your business processes and overall operations. Trust me, the wait is worth it.