Pick a word that has nothing to do with your problem, then force a connection until new ideas appear.
When you think about a problem, your mind follows the paths it has used before. That's efficient, but it means you keep arriving at the same few ideas. Random Words drops something completely unrelated into the middle of your thinking: a word chosen by chance, like glove, volcano or honey.
Then you force a connection. What does the word remind you of? What does it do, what is it made of, where do you find it? Each association is a doorway back to your problem. Most lead nowhere. A few lead somewhere you would never have walked on your own, and one good one is enough.
The word must be genuinely random. If you pick one that already fits the problem, you're only confirming what you already think.
Use it when your ideas have started to sound alike, a team is stuck in a familiar groove, or you need a fast jolt of fresh thinking before going back to a more structured tool.
Set a random word beside your problem, list what the word brings to mind, then turn each link into an idea.
Choose a part of the diagram or a tab to explore each part.
What exactly are you trying to change, and for whom?
What word can chance hand you that has nothing to do with the problem?
What does this word make you think of, however loosely?
How could this association help solve your problem, even if the link feels silly?
It feels too silly to work. But the method is built on how memory and attention actually behave.
Your mind is a network of well-worn paths. Start from the problem and you slide down the usual ones. Start from an unrelated word and work back, and you approach the problem from a direction you'd never choose, reaching ideas the usual paths miss.
Place two unrelated things side by side and the mind can't help trying to connect them. Random Words puts that reflex to work. The effort of bridging the gap is what produces the new ideas.
When you choose a stimulus yourself, you unconsciously pick one that fits what you already believe. A truly random word gets past those filters and brings in material your judgment would have screened out.
No expertise is needed to riff on lighthouse or jam jar. Newcomers and experts start on equal footing, the mood lightens, and a stuck meeting gets moving again within minutes.
Write one clear question, such as “How might we fill the shop on winter weekdays?” A sharp focus gives the random word something to push against.
Use a dictionary, a book, a random word generator or the nearest cereal box. Take the first usable noun. Don't swap it for a “better” one: the awkward fit is the point.
Spend a few minutes on the word alone. What does it do, look like, sound like? Who uses it? What are its parts and rituals? Aim for 10–15 associations before you think about the problem.
Take each association in turn and ask how it could apply to your problem. Literal, metaphorical or silly: anything goes. Write every idea down, even the half-formed ones.
Try two or three different words for a broader spread. Then circle the ideas worth developing and shortlist them with a quick NUF Test.
A list of random words or a dictionary, a timer and a page split into two columns: Links and Ideas. With AI, all you need is the prompt below.
Subject: a two-person neighborhood bakery near an elementary school. Goal: steady sales from 2 to 6 p.m. Constraint: no extra staff, no ad budget. Random word: lighthouse.
A small lamp in the window switches on when the afternoon batch leaves the oven. Regulars learn the signal, and a text alert does the same job for subscribers.
Announce the 3 p.m. bake loudly: a bell, a chalkboard countdown and a social post. A quiet moment becomes an event people plan around.
Guide the after-school crowd in: a parent-and-kid snack deal timed for school pickup, with a sign on the corner where families walk past.
A daily “baker's log” on the door shows what's left and what's coming. At 5 p.m. the remaining loaves go into discounted surprise bags.
Lighthouses work while everyone else is off duty. Pre-order a dinner loaf by noon and pick it up on the way home from work, any time until six.
12 associations led to 17 ideas in 20 minutes. These five were the strongest, and three made the shortlist.
AI is good at two parts of this tool: supplying unexpected words and listing rich associations for each one. The creative leap, seeing how library could help a bike shop, is the part to keep for yourself, because that's where your knowledge of the problem counts. Let AI feed the stimulus while you make the links.
Ask for words from a named category, so the AI can't drift toward your topic.
Give me 5 concrete nouns from the world of farming, with no connection to retail. Number them.
Explore the word on its own before you bring the problem back in.
List 15 associations for 'lighthouse': what it does, its parts, its people, sounds and rituals.
Make your own connections, then ask AI for the ones you missed.
Here are my 3 ideas from 'lighthouse'. Which associations did I skip? Link two of them for me.
When a link seems useless, ask AI to pull a principle out of it.
'Foghorn' seems useless for my bakery. What principle is hiding in it that I could use?
Describe your challenge, pick a mode, then copy the prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot. In coach mode the AI hands you one random word at a time and waits for your links before offering its own.
The “Open in” links put the prompt in the web address. If your challenge includes anything sensitive, copy and paste instead.
After the session, click one to copy it, then paste it into the same chat.