// description
The random input technique introduces a randomly selected word, image, or object into the thinking process and forces the practitioner to find connections between that random element and the problem at hand. Because the input is unrelated to the topic, it disrupts established thought patterns and opens pathways that directed thinking would never follow. The technique relies on the brain's pattern-recognition ability to forge links even between apparently unconnected things.
// history
De Bono described this method as part of his broader lateral thinking toolkit beginning in the late 1960s. He argued that in a self-organizing patterning system like the human brain, a random entry point can lead to a new pattern more effectively than deliberately searching for one. The technique is often used as a quick warm-up in creative workshops and is one of the easiest lateral thinking tools to teach.
// example
A KDP publisher developing a new niche for mindfulness journals picks up a random word from a dictionary: "migratory." She forces connections: patterns that return seasonally (seasonal habit trackers), things that travel light (minimalist carry journals), routes and maps (journey-themed journaling), following instinct rather than plan (intuitive journaling for overthinkers). The "seasonal habit tracker" angle leads her to an undated quarterly reset journal — a product concept she would never have reached through direct thinking about the mindfulness category.
// katharyne's take
I use this when I'm genuinely stuck and every angle I think of feels like something that already exists. Open a random Wikipedia article, pick up the nearest object on your desk, or ask ChatGPT for a random noun — then force yourself to connect it to your product brief. The stranger the connection feels, the more original the idea tends to be. It sounds silly but it really works. Set a timer for five minutes and commit to finding at least three genuine connections before the timer ends.
// creative uses
- Use random input to break a Midjourney style rut: pick a random Wikipedia article, extract three nouns from the first paragraph, and force them into your next prompt as unexpected modifiers. The results are almost always more interesting than anything you'd have chosen deliberately.
- Apply a random word to your Etsy shop theme brief — if you're designing a botanical sticker set and you pull "infrastructure," you might land on structural botanical illustration (plants rendered with architectural precision) — a distinctive angle in a saturated category.
- Use random input for email subject line generation: generate 10 random nouns, then write one subject line for each that connects the noun to your topic. The five weakest connections often produce the most surprising subject lines, which tend to get higher open rates than literal ones.
// quick actions
- Right now, look at the nearest object on your desk. Write down five connections between that object and your current product or creative brief. Force yourself to complete all five — the last two are where the original ideas live.
- Open Wikipedia's "random article" link and read the first paragraph of whatever you get. Extract the most unexpected noun from it and use it as a Midjourney style modifier in your next prompt session. Run three variations with that word.
- Ask ChatGPT: "Give me 20 random nouns unrelated to [your niche]." Then spend 15 minutes connecting each noun to a potential product idea in your niche. Copy any connection that surprises you into a product ideas doc and revisit it in a week with fresh eyes.
// prompt ideas
Give me 15 random nouns completely unrelated to [my niche — e.g. planners, coloring books, digital downloads]. Then for each noun, force one genuine connection to a potential product idea, listing angle, or design concept in my niche. Don't filter for quality — include the strange ones. I'll identify which connections are surprising enough to develop further.
I'm stuck on [a Midjourney style direction / a new product concept / an email subject line approach] for [describe your creative challenge]. Give me a random word, then walk me through finding five genuine connections between that word and my challenge — not surface-level puns, but real conceptual links that could lead somewhere interesting. If the first connections feel obvious, push further until we reach something I wouldn't have thought of on my own.
Run a random input session on my [Etsy shop theme / KDP niche / course topic]. Pick a random domain completely outside my world — [architecture / marine biology / military history / haute cuisine] — and pull five concepts or terms from it. For each one, show me how it could translate into a distinctive product angle, visual style, or positioning idea in my market. The more unexpected the connection, the better.