Keep a "what if" journal for speculative combinations
Write out daily "what if X and Y were combined" prompts — and take the speculative ones seriously.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Write out daily "what if X and Y were combined" prompts — and take the speculative ones seriously.
- Why it works: The "what if" question is a cognitive permission structure that licenses exploration of ideas the critical mind would otherwise reject before examination. By externalizing the combination in writing — even speculatively — the writer’s brain engages the elaboration process and sometimes discovers that the "absurd" combination is workable once unpacked. Writing also externalizes the idea from working memory, allowing evaluation to happen later without losing the original bisociation.
- Evidence: Practitioner experience / self-report; no formal study.
- Avoid: Filtering the prompts before writing them down — the value is in the elaboration of combinations that initially seem wrong, not in pre-selecting plausible ones.
Why it works
The "what if" question is a cognitive permission structure that licenses exploration of ideas the critical mind would otherwise reject before examination. By externalizing the combination in writing — even speculatively — the writer’s brain engages the elaboration process and sometimes discovers that the "absurd" combination is workable once unpacked. Writing also externalizes the idea from working memory, allowing evaluation to happen later without losing the original bisociation.
How to do it
- 1Each morning or evening, write three "what if X and Y" prompts — pick one item from your domain and one from outside it.
- 2Write at least two sentences exploring each combination before dismissing any.
- 3Mark the ones that feel unexpectedly interesting and return to them weekly.
- 4Treat the journal as a long-running experiment, not a to-do list — time lag between writing and insight is normal.
What the evidence says
AnecdotalExpressive writing and journaling have documented cognitive benefits including enhanced associative thinking. The "what if" structure is widely used in design and innovation practice; direct evidence for its efficacy relative to other prompts is limited.
Honest caveat: Evidence is primarily practitioner-reported; the "what if" journal as a creativity tool has not been tested in controlled conditions against alternative daily writing practices.
Common mistake
Filtering the prompts before writing them down — the value is in the elaboration of combinations that initially seem wrong, not in pre-selecting plausible ones.
IX Coach generates a daily "what if" pairing based on your current projects and domains of interest, starting the elaboration conversation so the journal entry has a foundation to build from.
Practice this with IX Coach →