Stuck on a problem? Let AI help in 5 minutes
A quick framework to brainstorm ideas without draining your brainpower.
There I was, lying on the couch in the middle of a workday, tearing myself apart.
I was supposed to be in hustle mode.
Pushing harder. Outworking everybody.
Yada Yada Yada.
Instead, I was at home, zoning in and out of a brainless comedy, questioning why I didn’t have that relentless drive everyone else seemed to have.
In the middle of my pity-party, a plotline on the show I was watching caught my attention. Some guy was using a “straight to voicemail” app to call his wife without having to actually talk to her.
“Wait - do they have something like this in real life?”
At the time, cold-calling was my main way of booking sales calls, but almost every call I booked came from the callbacks from the messages I left, not from people who answered the phone.
So what if I could skip the call and go straight to voicemail like dude on the show?
Turns out, there was a real-life app that did exactly that.
I signed up, started using it, and suddenly, I was able to focus on my highest leverage activity - leaving cold messages - faster than I ever could live-dialing.
That one tool took my efficiency to a new level, and my business took off.
Did you know that a study by McKinsey shows that 30% of innovative ideas come from moments of downtime?
Hustle mode has us conditioned to believe that every minute needs to be maximized with hyper-productivity.
But sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs happen when we’re not forcing it.
That’s the edge AI brings to brainstorming and creative problem-solving.
Instead of forcing your brain to work overtime, you have a tool that does some of the heavy lifting for you, sparking new ideas when you’re stuck or guiding you to breakthroughs that would have been hard to get to yourself when you’re spinning so many plates between your 9-5, your family, and your business.
When you’re building a business on the side of your job, brainpower is a premium.
Here’s how to use my E.A.S.Y. Framework to let AI handle some of the mental load through guided brainstorming:
• E – Engage with the Problem: Give AI some context about your challenge. You don’t need the perfect prompt; just start a conversation to explore possibilities.
• A – Ask for New Angles: Let AI offer different perspectives or unusual ideas. Sometimes a fresh angle is all you need to break through.
• S – Streamline Ideas: Quickly scan through AI’s suggestions. Sort what resonates and discard the rest without overthinking.
• Y – Yield to Surprising Insights: Be open to the “odd” suggestions that don’t align with your usual thinking. Sometimes the unexpected route holds the best answers.
Why This Works
When you let AI take over some of the brainstorming, you’re not just outsourcing ideas - you’re inviting fresh perspectives that make creative problem-solving easier.
You’re making room for those “couch breakthroughs” that most people miss because they’re too busy constantly in action, without ever stopping to think.
Here’s what you’ll get out of it:
You’ll spend less time stuck on one way of thinking and more time exploring new solutions.
AI helps you break out of mental blocks by helping you see things from different angles you would have never gotten to yourself.
With AI handling the initial brainstorming, so you can focus on refining and executing ideas.
“The best ideas come when you stop trying to force them.”
Your Turn
Next time you’re struggling with a tough problem, try using AI to shift your perspective.
Describe your challenge, let AI suggest different angles, and see where it takes you.
You might just stumble onto a breakthrough idea - even if it started with you firing up AI strictly out of frustration.