Awhile ago, I read this interesting advice from personal development and entrepreneurial coach Jonathan Fields:

Often the best way to solve a problem is to have a conversation with your future self. How do you do this without bending the space-time continuum? It’s simple, really. Have a seat in your favorite chair and close your eyes. Now imagine walking into a bare room, with plain white walls with a small table and two folding chairs facing across from each other. Sit down in the chair closest to you. Now, in walks your future self 10 years from now. S/he sits across from you and explains that s/he’s there to answer whatever questions you have about the problems you’re facing. Go ahead and begin firing. Ask him/her whatever you want and take advantage of a more experienced version of you.

A clever, handy technique that probably stems from Neuro-Linguistic Programming. I originally classified this as a personal development tool. Which it is, but it may also be a great writing tool in disguise…

How Would _____ Write This?

How would a more experienced version of yourself write this? (This being whatever ad or announcement or scene or headline you’re trying to craft.)

This may sound like a silly exercise, but if you approach it earnestly and give it time you’ll find that our minds are a lot more powerful than we think. As with freewriting, novel approaches to brainstorming can produce novel results. A large part of creativity may simply be getting out of our own way and letting our subconscious run wild. In this case, simply asking a “better” version of yourself to solve the problem may be enough.

Of course, our future self may not be the only resource at our disposal. Given enough familiarity, we may be able to ask other writers.

I’ve read a biography of John Steinbeck and a handful of his novels, letters and journals. I’m confident I could conjure up a young Steinbeck if I wanted to.

Same for Seth Godin. I’ve read his blog faithfully for years, read many of his books and listened to at least a dozen presentations he’s given (now available on the web). That’s not to say I’m as smart as Seth Godin. But that’s not the point, either. What matters is using my knowledge of him to produce work that’s better than what I could do “on my own”.

Of course, even if you use this technique, the work you produce is still your own. And if the work is better, that’s quite the confidence boost. “Look what you wrote. You did this once; you can do it again.” Sometimes a little time travel is all it takes.

Who would you consult?