“Don't Stare at a Blank Screen” is an activity that encourages brainstorming all ideas, whether they're good or not. The authors of The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking argue that this is a worthwhile activity because they believe that bad ideas are better than no ideas at all. A student organization I'm a part of took a turn for the worse this year and I decided to use this activity to brainstorm ways to fix the organization so it doesn't fall apart. I opened a blank document on my computer, wrote my problem at the top of the page, and as the instructions suggested, I began writing down every idea that came to mind. I have a hard time writing things that don't seem complete or polished, so I struggled a lot at the start of this assignment. After about 6 minutes of rereading every sentence I had written and eventually rewriting, I decided to turn off my computer screen so that I couldn't analyze my ideas as I wrote them. By turning off the screen, I was able to express my ideas without worrying not only what others would think, but also what I would think. Once I felt I had presented as many ideas as possible, I turned my computer screen back on and looked through what I had written. I selected the ideas that were impossible (i.e. changing the personality of the co-chair), I tried to understand what made these ideas impossible (i.e. changing the personality of a co-chair person is part of who they are and is something that cannot be easily changed). ), then tried to turn the idea into a good idea (i.e. appoint a new co-chair with a better attitude/personality to replace the existing co-chair). While some of the ideas...... middle of paper ...... almost all parts of life. For example, it could be used to think about a menu for an event or to consider possible ways to solve a logic puzzle. The only change I would make to the instructions would be to ask participants to turn off their computer screens so that they do not have the opportunity to develop tunnel vision on what they have already written and lose all the ideas that are still in their minds. . Additionally, using this partnering activity to “Tell It Like You See It” could really expand ideas and create a fuller, richer brainstorm. In conclusion, I think "Don't Stare at a Blank Screen" is a very effective way to evaluate your ideas and should be adopted more widely at Williams College, where there seems to be this assumption that people think with perfect and complete thoughts. and, therefore, to fit in, you can never have bad ideas.