Brainstorming Technique: Find Similarities

An effective means of making a point is to show the similarities between two seemingly unrelated things. It is naturally interesting because most people will not have made the connection, so it provides new things to think about.

It isn't too difficult to find similarities between things. All you have to do is break things down into their most basic descriptions, and find which ones have the same descriptions. For example, a couch is cushioned furniture we lie down on. A bed is the same. From here, you can look for ideas that treat a couch like a bed or a bed like a couch. Since the two are different, there is an absurdity that can come from treating one like the other.

Of course, beds and couches aren't that dissimilar in general. If you want to be more absurd, go for simpler definitions. A couch is a big soft thing. A panda bear is also a big soft thing. Imagine writing a story wherek, instead of a couch, a person owns a panda. The panda stays in the living room and the owner will sit on it while watching TV, occasionally sleeping on it instead of going to bed. Now you have something very strange that you can play with.

The beauty of finding similarities is that it is more difficult to find any two things that don't have any similarities. A fun game to play is to pick two completely random objects and find the similarities between them. For one thing, it will stretch your mind. For another, it will get you thinking of things in unconventional ways.

There are many different ways to try this technique. You could start by choosing two things and looking for similarities or you could think of all the qualities of one thing and then look for something else that shares those qualities. You could do these exercises in your head or you could do them on paper. There's no wrong way to do this.

If you need a push, try finding the similarities between a vacuum cleaner and a garden hose. If you want something more difficult, find the similarities between a rhinoceros and a Frisbee.