One of the easiest ways to ensure that your idea is unique is by simply doing the opposite of what others are doing. This technique can be a bit uncomfortable at first, but it consistently leads to highly unique ideas.

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When using this technique, you first begin by thinking about what people in your industry typically do. Then image what the opposite would look like. This will, almost certainly, give you pause. It won’t look quite right to you because there are going to be significant problems. If there weren’t any problems, someone would have already done it. 

This is where people usually stop. They imagine what the opposite strategy would look like, quickly realize that there’s a problem, and then go right back into competing head-to-head with others. 

Every idea is made up for smaller ideas. In creativity research, we call these ideas “components.” Think of a component like a Lego piece. You can build whatever you like with them, but you need to have enough pieces, and you need those pieces to fit together. How good your overall idea is doesn’t depend on any single piece. It depends entirely on how those pieces fit together. 

When you practice the “Do The Opposite” strategy, you’re essentially taking an important component and inverting it. Of course it’s not going to fit into what you’ve already created, but it’s not supposed to. Doing the opposite is the beginning of the creative process, not the end. After you DO THE OPPOSITE, your job is to say “Ok. What broke and how do I fix it?” If you can find a way to reconnect all your ideas together in a way that makes sense, you’ll be left with a highly original idea that is still effective.

This is one of the reasons I’ve chosen this format for the creativity podcast. There are tons of great podcasts out there that discuss creativity, but when I search through episodes and shows, I noticed that they tend to be 45-90 minutes long. This is an excellent structure for a creativity show. It must be, or it wouldn’t be so popular. With that much time, you can dive deep into each topic.

So I asked myself, what’s the opposite approach? The answer is, of course, doing super-short podcasts. When you do the opposite, you’ll always be met with an obvious problem. My obvious problem was figuring out how I help listeners in such a short time. 

I have a Master’s Degree in Creativity & Innovation. I’d love nothing more than to dive down and talk about some of the awesome experiments that creativity researchers have done or to describe each theory of creativity in intricate detail. Doing the opposite means these are off the table for me. That’s a problem. But, as is often the case, the problem contains the seeds of its own solution. Because these episodes are going to be short, I have opportunities to help listeners in ways that longer shows can’t. I can provide daily inspiration, something a weekly or monthly show simply can’t do. Second, what I lose in detail, I gain in simplicity. I don’t have long enough to wow you with some trivia about creativity. I absolutely love neuroscience, but there simply isn’t enough time to tell you how these principles work in the brain. I have just enough time to give some good advice, but not enough time to cloud it up with unnecessary details. This is the trade off of doing the opposite. It’s what you can expect every time you use this strategy.

While you’re creating today, think about what the opposite approach would be. When you do, you’ll almost certainly be met with some kind of problem. Most of these problems will feel insurmountable. In fact, some might be. But keep your focus on what you gain, not just what you lose. If you did the opposite of what others expected, what would be the real trade off? Perhaps you can make it work, or perhaps even asking this question is enough to push you in an entirely different direction. Either way, you’ll be exploring the unknown. For a creative person, this is already paradise.