Instead of solving your actual problem directly, invent a wildly different, imaginary version of it first, brainstorm solutions to that instead, and then translate the best ideas back to the real situation. The Imaginary Version opens up creative thinking that a straightforward approach often canΓÇÖt quite reach.
Why this helps
A real, immediate problem often comes loaded with assumptions about what’s realistic or possible, which can quietly limit the range of solutions a family considers. Solving a deliberately imaginary, exaggerated version of the same problem first removes those assumptions entirely, since nobody feels bound by practical limits when the scenario is already make-believe, and translating the best ideas back afterward often produces genuinely creative solutions to the real problem.
What you need
Nothing but a real problem worth solving, and a willingness to get a little silly first.
How to play
Identify the actual problem you’re trying to solve, “we need a better system for sharing chores,” say. Then invent a wildly different, imaginary version of the same underlying problem, “imagine you’re the captain of a pirate ship and the crew needs a fair system for dividing treasure and work.”
Brainstorm freely for the imaginary version first, with no constraints at all, since it’s not real. Once you have a good list of imaginary solutions, go back through them together and ask: is there a real version of this idea that could actually work for our actual problem?
Why distance from the real problem helps
It’s genuinely hard to think freely about a problem that feels urgent, personal, or constrained by real-world limits. An imaginary version strips all of that away, nobody worries about whether the pirate captain’s solution is “realistic,” which paradoxically makes it easier to generate the kind of unusual, creative idea that might actually solve the real problem once it’s translated back.
Why this is especially good for a reluctant or stuck family brainstorm
When a family feels genuinely stuck on a real problem, often because the same few predictable solutions keep coming up, switching to a playful, imaginary version can break the group out of that rut entirely. The silliness itself tends to loosen everyone up, which often produces better real-world thinking once the group circles back to the actual problem at hand.
A pirate ship, a space mission, any sufficiently silly imaginary scenario standing in for a real, ordinary problem, is a genuinely effective way to reach creative solutions that a straightforward, serious discussion of the real issue might never have reached on its own.
