Opposite Day is a “holiday” declared by kids (usually on a whim) to justify doing the opposite of whatever you ask them to do, for example:

Parent: “Do X.” (Kid does the opposite.)

Parent: “Why did you do Y when I asked you to do X?”

Kid: “Because it’s Opposite Day!

What’s frustrating for a parent can be helpful in idea generation. A question I use frequently in brainstorming sessions is “what’s the worst (most horrifying, inappropriate, ineffective) approach you can think of?”

The exercise helps promote the creative process by making truly bad ideas safe. It also gets people laughing, which is almost always a good thing. Another benefit to “Opposite Day” thinking: when I ask people to identify the attributes that make their idea so bad, it helps clarify the “opposite:” the attributes that will make an idea great.

But please: don’t try this technique in your own work. Oh wait…it’s Opposite Day!