Ridiculous solutions
The weirder and impossible-r the better for this exercise, tbh
I read recently about futurist Jim Dator, and the second of the four Dator’s laws within futurism: that every useful idea about the future should appear to be ridiculous at first. (Of course there is a caveat: not all ridiculous ideas turn out to be useful.)
But, nevermind that caveat for a moment. Today, write about a thing that is currently frustrating in your life and then write about the most ridiculous and/or seemingly impossible solutions to that frustration.
For example, for the sake of explanation, let’s say your frustration is a bad haircut that you cannot possibly grow out soon enough. The list of ridiculous sentences could include things like, “I will hang upside down each day in case that makes my hair grow faster when the blood rushes to my head” followed by, “I will begin wearing wild pink wigs and become a new person; in fact, maybe I will change my name and move to a new town and completely start over thanks to this terrible haircut.” Let these ideas run wild and be truly ridiculous. Because you never know when you might strike gold or get a huge flash of insight or come up with the next best comedy sketch, etc.
I did this activity with a group once, and participated myself. One problem I had at the time was feeling like I had enough energy at the end of the day when I got home from doing news writing and broadcasting to tackle the creative writing I wanted to do. One “ridiculous” solution someone suggested in the group was “tape up a festive finish line inside the front door and dramatically enter in slow-motion every night like I’m in ‘Chariots of Fire’…” Hilarious. Creative. All the things. But, it also made my heart perk up. I needed a reset, and to feel like I’d rewarded myself for doing that part of my day in order to better transition to the next part of it. It wasn’t about the finish line and crossing it in slow-mo; it was about what that represented. (But, actually, it turned out I spent hours of my day commuting and now that I am entirely remote, I have that time back so the problem kind of solved itself, though I do still mark transitions in my day.)
Anyway, make your list of problems and make your list of “ridiculous” solutions, the weirder the better. Now, pick the ridiculous solution that is calling to you the most and write about what it actually means. Unpack it a little. Or don’t. Maybe crossing a finish line every day in slow motion is exactly what you need.
