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NAMES

I know a guy, Frank (we call him Frank
the Tank) who makes a rhyme with the names of everyone he meets. For example,
Mel becomes "Mel who fell into my wishing well" Sometimes its slightly awkward,
such as when he meets a Chuck, or a Pam, but he never forgets a name. I decided
to try this myself (not out loud, of course) and I've found that for me (a
person who is horrible at remembering names) this technique works perfectly. I
will never forget the names of my new friends, such as Scott (who smokes pot),
and Karie (who's kinda hairy).

1. Do it at one sitting

This is the one crucial element for the technique to work.
If you end up doing your hundred entries, though over many sessions, you’ll
defeat the point of the technique. Before starting your list, make yourself
comfortable and try to block all potential interruptions.

2. Eliminate distractions

Just like most brainstorming techniques, you should strive to
eliminate all activities unrelated to idea generation during the
brainstorming session. Just focus on getting the ideas out of your head as
quickly as possible following these rules:

• Don’t judge or evaluate ideas; you’ll review them later.
  
• Don’t write complete words or sentences if that slows you down.
  
• Don’t stop to wonder how far in the list you are; number the lines from 1 to
  100 in advance or use numbered lists if you’re using a word processor.
  
• Don’t worry too much about repeating entries; duplicates can shed light on
  your patterns of thought.

1. First 30 entries or so: where you escape circular thinking

The first items are the easiest to come up with. In this first phase, your
conscious mind is still in charge and you’ll most probably just dump ideas
you’re already familiar with.

2. Next 40 entries: where patterns emerge

In this phase you’ll start noticing recurring themes and patterns of thought.
Phase two is usually the hardest one, as you may find it difficult to let go of
the ideas you had in the first phase in order to come up with new, distinct
ones.

Bear in mind that it’s exactly this struggle that enables you to get to the
third and most fruitful phase, hence the importance of not giving up at this
point.

3. Last 30 entries: where the gems are

At this point you will already have exhausted most “logical” answers,
allowing your subconscious mind to express itself more freely. Don’t be
surprised if you get at least one or two really nonsensical or seemingly
illogical entries. You may feel tempted to not write them down (“How on
earth did I think that?”). Write them down anyway: these wacky entries
may sound far from profound, but it’s exactly those items you’re after.