How To Get More Out Of Life With The 20 Idea Method

There are a number of different ways to go about solving your problems. They all involve utilizing the massive power of your mind. You could solve your problems through the incubation method, through free writing, or even through “going within”. All things that I have written about on this site. Today I am going to bring you another method that you can use to advance past sticking points and keep your life on the right path. This method is called the 20 idea method.

I’m not sure where this originated. I’ve heard about it from Earl Nightingale and Brain Tracy respectively and have used it to add more to my own life. The 20 idea method is to be used to help you get through a particular sticking point in your life. For example let’s say that you are struggling financially but you have skills. You are wondering what it is you need to do to move forward. Utilizing the 20 idea method will help show you the way.

How To Start The 20 Idea Method

The first thing you need to do is grab a piece of paper and a pen. No, your word processing software or smart phone or whatever won’t cut it. You need a physical piece of a paper and you need to hand write everything out. At the top of the sheet of paper you are going to write the problem that you are trying to solve. The more specific you make it the better off you’re going to be.

For example “I need to get rich” isn’t going to do much for you. However “How can I add an extra 2k per month to my income by this time next month?” now we’re talking. The more specific you are the stronger that this is going to be and the better that it is going to work for you. So go ahead and write your most pressing problem in specific terms at the top of the page.

The Next Step

Now what you are going to do is brainstorm 20 answers to that question. Sounds pretty simple right? Well it’s simple but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. You need to write answers that are just as specific as the question. So “By doing better at work” isn’t going to cut it but “Sending out 3x as many proposals as I do now” would count as one answer. So what you need to do is wrack your brain to come up with 20 answers to the question. You can go over 20 if you want.

However you cannot get up from the exercise until you have at least 20 ideas. 20 is the minimum hence the name the 20 idea method. There is something special about the number 20, what it is I can’t say but whoever the originator of the method was stressed it. Once you have the 20 ideas written down you are going to choose one (and only one) and then set about implementing it immediately. Even if you have multiple good ideas you can only choose the very best and then go about using it.

Utility Of The 20 Idea Method

I would encourage you to pick five different areas of your life that you can use this in and do each one Monday through Friday. So for example Monday could be finances, Tuesday could be health, Wednesday could be women, and so on and so forth. Pick the five areas of your life that are most pressing and important to you (I would encourage you to make sure all the essential skills are addressed). Do this for a month and then report back with how it went.

Earl Nightingale stated that “more people have become wealthy using the 20 idea method than any other method of creating thinking ever discovered”. While I’m not sure how much competition is in that spot, I will say this. The 20 idea method takes very little time and has a huge ROI. Plus it’s a great way to warm up your mind for the day or to get your subconscious thinking throughout the night. Like everything else if after a month you don’t see much return then give it up. But my bet is on you getting a ton out of it (if you actually stick with it that is).

Summary

Our mind is an amazing thing. It’s a shame we don’t use it more. So many of our problems and sticking points could be solved if we would utilize all of the resources that we have within us. The 20 idea method is just one method of using this great power within us. But it is one of the most effective ones. Go ahead and try it now. Follow the steps laid out in the article and see if you come up with any new insights and always make sure to take action right away.

If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.

-Charles Sledge