Generate solutions without premature evaluation
List as many potential solutions as possible before judging any of them.
Key takeaways
- What it is: List as many potential solutions as possible before judging any of them.
- Why it works: Premature evaluation suppresses unconventional options before they can be considered. Brainstorming exploits a two-stage cognitive architecture: generative thinking and evaluative thinking use overlapping resources and interfere with each other when combined. Separating the stages allows a wider solution space to be explored, increasing the probability that a workable solution is found.
- Evidence: Established clinical or therapeutic practice.
- Avoid: Stopping after 2–3 obvious solutions, which are exactly the options that haven’t already worked — the value is in options 6–10, which require pushing past the obvious.
Why it works
Premature evaluation suppresses unconventional options before they can be considered. Brainstorming exploits a two-stage cognitive architecture: generative thinking and evaluative thinking use overlapping resources and interfere with each other when combined. Separating the stages allows a wider solution space to be explored, increasing the probability that a workable solution is found.
How to do it
- 1Set a goal of at least 8–10 potential solutions, including unlikely or imperfect ones.
- 2Write each as a brief action without evaluating yet: "ask my manager", "delay one bill to free cash", "borrow from emergency fund."
- 3Include solutions that feel embarrassing or risky — filtering happens in the evaluation stage.
- 4Only stop when you have genuinely exhausted new ideas, not when you have found one that seems reasonable.
What the evidence says
Clinical practiceBrainstorming as a structured technique is a foundational component of PST; the evidence for separating generation from evaluation comes from the broader creativity and decision-making literature and is clinically embedded in PST trials.
Honest caveat: Classic brainstorming in groups has mixed evidence due to production blocking; individual brainstorming, as used in PST, avoids that limitation.
Common mistake
Stopping after 2–3 obvious solutions, which are exactly the options that haven’t already worked — the value is in options 6–10, which require pushing past the obvious.
IX Coach uses a structured prompt sequence to pull out additional solutions beyond your first instincts, using scenario prompts ("what would someone with more resources do?") to expand the generative phase.
Practice this with IX Coach →