My Reverse Thinking Guide (what, why + how)

How can I make this blog post horrible? How can I ensure this post is never shared? And how, I must ask, can I make sure my blog never grows or reaches new people?

These (rather absurd) questions are all examples of reverse thinking – a powerful inversion mental model for innovative thinking and problem solving.

So if you’re ready to start turning complex problems and vexing questions into simple and obvious solutions, keep reading.

This is my guide on inversion thinking. These are my hot takes and strategies for how to think in reverse.

Please, do enjoy.

What Is Reverse Thinking? (what + why)

Charlie Munger (yep, the billionaire business partner of also billionaire Warren Buffet) is famous for his mental models.

According to him, inversion thinking is a great way to solve difficult problems, uncover rogue beliefs and find innovative solutions.

So what is it?

Reverse thinking is an inversion mental model that involves thinking of problems backwards, rather than forward.

One way to do this is by thinking of ways to make something worse, rather than better (as I did in the beginning of this post).

It’s a way to uncover fresh insights to ideas, goals and problems.

Sometimes, these insights can feel obvious. But sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best ones.

So let’s look at a few more examples of how inversion thinking can be used.

Some Reverse Thinking Examples (the what)

• How can I lessen my carbon footprint?

• Inversion model → How can I worsen my carbon footprint?

• How can I make more money?

• Inversion model → How can I waste money? How can I ensure I never get rich?

• I want to grow a successful blog or email list.

• Inversion model → Write out how to not grow a blog

• i.e., write content inconsistently, don’t add value, target too many audiences, don’t listen to your readers, give up early.

• I want a simpler, more laid-back lifestyle.

• Inversion model → How can I make life more complicated and be more stressed?

10 Benefits of Thinking In Reverse (the why)

1. Boost your abilities to innovate

2. Learn to approach problems from multiple angles

3. Become more competitive and valuable in your business or niche

4. Find solutions to complex problems easier

5. Uncover roadmaps and strategies to reach your goals

6. Improve your creative thinking skills

7. Uncover novel perspectives and how to think differently

8. Thinking in the opposite direction challenges assumptions or beliefs

9. Break through mental barriers, blocks and obstacles

10. Stress less about issues when they arise

How to Do Reverse Thinking In 3 Steps

On to the good stuff. Let’s explore how to think in reverse.

The steps below follow my own personal framework, and it’s a system that works for me.

But of course, feel free to go off script with your own methods if you find an extra step or detour that works better for you (and feel free to share any of those insights in the comments below!).

1. Identify the Problem + the Desired Outcome

Before we can fully think in reverse, we need to know what we want to think in reverse about.

(Kind of obvious, I know…)

But I like to highlight the importance of focus here.

Narrowing in on some specific problem or objective is a skill. Because when looking for solutions to complex problems, it can be easy to get distracted, discouraged or even veer off course completely.

So isolate exactly what the problem is that you want to find a solution for.

Write down why it’s important to you and what you hope to achieve in solving it.

Getting granular with these details will keep your focus and act as guardrails as we move to step two.

2. Brainstorm Reverse Solutions

The step above was all about preparation – so now we can take full advantage of inversion thinking.

One reason reverse thinking works so well is because (for better or for worse) coming up with ways things can go wrong or how to make something worse is often easier.

Maybe it’s a leftover survival mechanism — looking for threats, that is — I don’t know.

But it’s definitely less stressful, because the pressure of fixing a problem or finding a solution creates more anxiety than trying to make something worse.

So once you have a specific thing you want to explore (from step one), reverse think your way to novel solutions.

Here are some key questions to ask:

• What are my assumptions?

• Now, what if the opposite were true?

• How can I achieve the opposite outcome?

• What’s a different angle I can approach this problem from?

• How would someone from a different industry or belief framework approach it?

• How would a beginner approach this issue?

• How can we make the problem harder or worse?

• What are the causes of the problem?

• What are some anticipated setbacks and points of failure?

3. Shortlist the Best Ideas + Create An Action Plan

Once you have a list of potential solutions, you need to shortlist them for testing.

Although I like to believe that most problems have more than one solution, not every idea will be a winner.

So pick out the ones that struck a chord, stand out and made the most memorable impact.

Now, reverse engineer those solutions into mini-steps you can follow. You’re essentially creating an action plan for implementing and testing your ideas.

After you’ve gathered some data on their performance, you can cut away solutions that aren’t working and advance the ones that are.

Eventually, you’ll end up with your top ideas.

From here, you can scale the solution (or even circle back to the reverse thinking exercise to find more solutions for testing).

It’s a fairly straightforward framework – but it works.

Just remember to keep things dynamic and have fun with it (never cast judgements on any of your ideas).

The more creative you can be, the better.

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