I found a great post talking about how lists of 100 can make you more productive, by forcing your brain to think of unique options. The theory behind it, in my interpretation, is that for some things it is so hard to come up with 100 solutions that you need to kick yourself to actually think of something new.

The basics are that you need to do this in one sitting, no coming back tomorrow to think of new ones, and get rid of all distractions (including ones in your head). You then sit down, and write 100 solutions to the problem at hand.

The first part of the results will be quite uninteresting, things you already know to do, since these are at the tip of your thinking. The next forty are where the patterns are, these are the “variations on a theme” type ideas. The last 30 entries where be where you can potentially find some good ideas, interesting, unique and new ways of solving the problem.

I think the thing you should always remember is to let yourself think outside of the box. Jot down even funny and weird ideas if they have a chance of working, since through these thoughts you may arrive at something truly useful.

Thanks to Litemind for their great article.