Be 50% more creative. In under one minute.

This one’s a life-changer – it might be the technique I use most often…

When faced with a tricky challenge, most people only think of two solutions – fight/flight; now/never; left/right; etc.

But, if you can force yourself to think of three options instead of two, it’s much better:

• You have 50% more choice – three, not two
• Because the third made you think more deeply, that option is often the best
• When you find the third option, you’ll often find the floodgates open. So you quickly can see options four, five and six – again, giving you lots more choice
• It is good for confidence – it’s gone from “there is little I can do” to “there is a lot I can do”

For example, if you are in a meeting with someone and they kick-off at you, you could:

1. Fight!
2. Flight
3. Tell them you feel uncomfortable
4. Take a break from the meeting
5. Invite a colleague to be an impartial referee
6. Apologise
7. Agree with them
8. Disagree with them
9. Arrange another meeting
10. And this second meeting could be at their place, our place, or a neutral venue …
11. … or could be on the phone/Teams
12. You could ask them to slow down, so you can take notes
13. Say “sorry – can you repeat that?” (People can feel uncomfortable repeating something stroppy they’ve just said)
14. Break their flow by saying “I’m confused”, followed by silence. When they reply “what about?”, you’ve now regained control

When you thought you only had two options (fight/flight) – and that both felt rubbish – that’s stifling.

But once you see you have lots of options, it’s a relatively easy fix. Just choose your favourite(s) and crack on.

So a good rule of thumb: when you think you have no options, assume you have at least three. It is just a question of finding them.

Action Point

Think of an awkward situation. Identify at least three possible solutions to resolve it – more if you can think of them. Then, choose your best option(s) from the list, and crack on.