Creative Thinking Lab
Widen your options before you choose one
Some tasks stall because we can only see one way to do them, and that way feels hard. The Creative Thinking Lab gives you short, structured exercises to generate options first and decide second.
Divergent first, convergent second
Psychologist J. P. Guilford distinguished divergent thinking — producing many possible answers — from convergent thinking, narrowing to the best one (Guilford, 1967). Mixing them too early tends to kill ideas before they have a chance. The lab keeps them separate. Even a short walk has been shown to boost divergent idea generation for a while afterwards (Oppezzo & Schwartz, 2014).
Learn the basics in the Academy lessons on creativity fundamentals and divergent thinking, or read how procrastination affects creativity.
Techniques in the lab
Reframing
Restate the problem several ways — as a question, from someone else’s view, or as its opposite — to find a more workable version.
Random association
Bring in an unrelated word or image and look for links. Combining remote ideas is one classic account of how creative ideas form.
Constraints
Add a limit (ten words, no budget, one hour) to cut through the paralysis of infinite options.
Many uses
List as many uses, angles or options as you can before judging any of them — practice in pure divergent thinking.
Converge
Only then narrow down: pick two promising options and define a small test for each.
Capture
Keep every idea in one place, so ideas from incubation and the lab end up next to your tasks.
Availability and AI
The Creative Thinking Lab is included in the Pro and Premium plans. The exercises work without AI. If you turn on AI processing, the lab can also suggest prompts and unexpected angles to explore. See pricing.
Whenever you’re ready
Start free. No card needed, nothing to lose, and no streaks to break.