I’ve mentioned before that I sometimes like to use a ‘no filter’ brainstorm approach for coming up with ideas.

And I think this technique is particularly useful when combined with ‘free writing’ – where you simply jot down everything that comes into your head without editing it.

I’ve recently been completing my next book on patient recruitment and writing without editing is not something that I’ve found all that easy.

But since I’ve started with the free writing approach for generating ideas – occasionally adopting this as the first thing I do in the morning – it’s enabled me to see the value it can deliver.

Perhaps surprisingly, writing things down also helps to clarify my own thinking. If I simply note down everything that occurs to me – however seemingly unimportant or tangential to the topic – I can then go through it in a creative manner and make connections that might previously not have occurred to me.