The Outside-the-Modal Ideation Prompt

Use it for

Building the Brand Writing Team, Live

The prompt

I need you to generate ideas for [TASK — e.g., article angles, framework names, campaign concepts, product positioning, strategic options] on the topic of [TOPIC].

Constraints — these are not suggestions:

1. Generate exactly three ideas that are orthogonal to each other. I want maximum distance between them on whatever dimensions matter most for this topic. Very little overlap. If two feel like variants of the same idea, one of them is wrong.

2. Avoid the modal response. Deliberately step outside the most probable answers you'd give by default. I do not want cliché, trope, or the common framings that appear in the first ten articles on this topic. If an idea feels familiar to you, it's already too familiar to my reader.

3. For each idea, do a brief psychological analysis of the likely resistance to adoption — what belief, fear, identity, or habit would cause my audience to reject it on first read? I want to understand the adoption barrier, not pretend it isn't there.

4. The audience is [AUDIENCE — e.g., solo knowledge entrepreneurs, mid-market B2B buyers, clinical practitioners]. Their jobs-to-be-done, fears, and aspirations should shape every idea.

5. The goal for each idea is to create an "oh, I hadn't thought of it that way" moment for the reader. Measure each candidate against that bar before you present it.

Present each idea as: a one-line hook, a three-sentence expansion, the orthogonal axis it occupies, and the adoption resistance.

Worked example

No worked example recorded yet.