Wendell hated brainstorming. The process made him nervous and he never developed many ideas. In fact, most of the ideas he did come up with were repeats of earlier ideas. He did not understand why other people swore by the technique. Wendell met with his mentor who taught him the art of free writing. It took practice but he was able to stop self editing.

He began listing ideas that he never would have considered before he began to develop truly unique ideas in his brainstorming sessions soon, he was on a regular basis.