{"id":7336,"date":"2015-12-08T10:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T09:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=7336"},"modified":"2023-11-21T10:28:01","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T09:28:01","slug":"false-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"The False Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you face a tough problem, obvious solutions will usually not suffice. To tackle truly tricky challenges, you need unusual approaches. Creative thinking techniques can help you find such approaches.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are many thinking techniques<\/a> that can help you generate more original ideas. Most of these techniques work because they force you to change your perspective. They force you to look at the situation differently and to look for answers in different directions.<\/p>\n

“You Cannot look in a new direction by looking harder in the same direction” <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Edward de Bono<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One particularly useful technique to force yourself to generate unusual ideas, is the \u2018False Rule\u2019. Like many thinking techniques, the False Rule technique consists of three simple steps:<\/p>\n

Step 1. Pick a rule that does not match your challenge.<\/strong>
\nFor instance, use one of the following rules (but make sure the rule does not seem to match your situation)
\n– “Refrigerate after opening”
\n– “Shake well before using”
\n– “Applicants must be over 18 years old”
\n– “Flush after use”
\n– “Keep out of reach of children”<\/p>\n

By using a rule that is meant for a totally different situation you are forced to look for answers in unusual directions. By using the rule out of context you increase the chances of finding a truly original approach.<\/p>\n

Imagine for instance the following situation: you noticed that some of your employees spend many hours of the day gossiping around the coffee machine. You don\u2019t want to be that sourpuss who constantly monitors peoples every move, but you also realise this behaviour is costing the company money. You\u2019re looking for a way to subtly prevent people from taking lengthy coffee breaks. A rule you could pick is \u2018refrigerate after opening\u2019. This rule is definitely not applicable to your situation, and therefore an excellent choice.<\/em><\/p>\n

Step 2. Apply the rule to your challenge<\/strong>
\nSee what happens when you apply the rule. This will not be easy. After all, the rule is meant for a completely different situation. Connecting the rule to your challenge might seem impossible at first. But don\u2019t give up too soon. The fact that it will be hard to connect the strange rule to your situation is exactly what makes it so powerful. It forces you to make a connection that you would usually not even consider.<\/p>\n

How can you apply \u2018refrigerate after opening\u2019 to your situation? Well, perhaps you should cool down employees as soon as they reach the coffee machine\u2026 By turning off the heating in the hallway where the coffee machine is located you can make it unpleasant to linger there for too long. You could even place a fan with cool air next to the machine, preventing people from staying there longer than absolutely necessary. Or maybe the machine should be placed outside?<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t limit yourself to one-on-one applications of the rule. This will not always be an option. Use the rule as inspiration. Associate freely and use what you can.<\/p>\n

For instance, there are many more ways to make being around the coffee machine less pleasant. You could start playing annoying music around the machine…<\/em><\/p>\n

Step 3. Use the reason behind the rule<\/strong>
\nTake a close look at the reason this rule was introduced in the first place. Why should people under normal circumstances follow this rule? What\u2019s its goal? Could this principle be used in your situation?<\/p>\n

The reason behind \u2018refrigerate after opening\u2019 is clear enough; its goal is to prevent food from going bad. How could this logic be applied to your challenge? You could think of ways to prevent employees from turning \u2018bad\u2019 (in this case: unproductive)\u2026 Maybe you can facilitate productivity around the coffee machine. Perhaps you should introduce an idea wall next to the machine, enabling people to write down any good ideas they have (or problems they struggle with). After all, the coffee machine is where people meet and exchange ideas!<\/em><\/p>\n

Too challenging?<\/strong>
\nOf course it is possible that even after serious contemplation, no useful insights are found. While its steps are simple, the False Rule is not an easy technique. If you are not experienced in creative thinking (yet), you might want to start off with an easier technique like \u2018Analogy<\/a>\u2019 or SCAMPER<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I urge you to give seemingly \u2018odd\u2019 techniques like the False Rule a chance though. It won\u2019t take you more than ten minutes to use this curious technique, and it might well lead you to surprising insights. Give it a shot and please share your experiences with the technique in the comment box below!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like this article?<\/strong>
\n If you enjoyed reading this, feel free to share it with your network by hitting the Tweet, Like or Share button. This way the people in your network can benefit from this post as well.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u2018False Rule\u2019 is a useful technique that helps you generate creative ideas by forcing you to look for answers in unusual directions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[644,55],"class_list":["post-7336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thinking-techniques","tag-false-rule","tag-thinking-technique"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe False Rule - HatRabbits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The False Rule is a useful technique that helps you generate creative ideas by forcing you to look for answers in unusual directions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The False Rule - HatRabbits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The False Rule is a useful technique that helps you generate creative ideas by forcing you to look for answers in unusual directions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HatRabbits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-08T09:00:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-21T09:28:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"787\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"444\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e\"},\"headline\":\"The False Rule\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-08T09:00:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-21T09:28:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":802,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"false rule\",\"thinking technique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Thinking Techniques\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/\",\"name\":\"The False Rule - HatRabbits\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-08T09:00:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-21T09:28:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e\"},\"description\":\"The False Rule is a useful technique that helps you generate creative ideas by forcing you to look for answers in unusual directions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png\",\"width\":787,\"height\":444,\"caption\":\"The False Rule\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/false-rule\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The False Rule\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"HatRabbits\",\"description\":\"The magic of getting ideas\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e\",\"name\":\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter\"},\"description\":\"Ren\u00e9 is one of the founders of HatRabbits. His background in both law and photography enables him to shift smoothly between very different worlds and might explain his fascination with unusual combinations.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hatrabbits.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/rene\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The False Rule - HatRabbits","description":"The False Rule is a useful technique that helps you generate creative ideas by forcing you to look for answers in unusual directions.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The False Rule - HatRabbits","og_description":"The False Rule is a useful technique that helps you generate creative ideas by forcing you to look for answers in unusual directions.","og_url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/","og_site_name":"HatRabbits","article_published_time":"2015-12-08T09:00:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-21T09:28:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":787,"height":444,"url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/"},"author":{"name":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e"},"headline":"The False Rule","datePublished":"2015-12-08T09:00:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-21T09:28:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/"},"wordCount":802,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png","keywords":["false rule","thinking technique"],"articleSection":["Thinking Techniques"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/","name":"The False Rule - HatRabbits","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png","datePublished":"2015-12-08T09:00:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-21T09:28:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e"},"description":"The False Rule is a useful technique that helps you generate creative ideas by forcing you to look for answers in unusual directions.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/koffie_tekengebied-1-1.png","width":787,"height":444,"caption":"The False Rule"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/false-rule\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The False Rule"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/","name":"HatRabbits","description":"The magic of getting ideas","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/5bf0768019133e82308d2ba6ff493f0e","name":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/300d41b0d5252b9351a983fa0dad4bc76072471fcc0c683ea1cbde855eff89a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ren\u00e9 de Ruijter"},"description":"Ren\u00e9 is one of the founders of HatRabbits. His background in both law and photography enables him to shift smoothly between very different worlds and might explain his fascination with unusual combinations.","url":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/author\/rene\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7336"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23020,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7336\/revisions\/23020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}