Creativity Isn’t Found — It’s Stumbled Upon: 22 Excavation Methods and the Accidents You Meet
——22个挖法 · 2个本质认知 · 或是一套持续产出创意的方法
创意是——把自己放在一个高概率撞上意外的地方，
然后有本事认出那个意外。
行者知
导 语
大多数人以为创意是天才脑中的闪电。
错了。
创意是——把自己放在一个高概率撞上意外的地方，然后有本事认出那个意外。
第一部分 两个本质认知
地基不牢，后面22个方法用不上。
认知一 创意不是挖出来的，是撞上的
所有刻意挖的动作，不是为了直接挖到答案。
是为了提高撞上意外的概率。
挖反面，撞上反向逻辑的意外。
挖被遗忘的角落，撞上那些被搁置却还在发光的东西。
跨界，撞上一个行业用另一个行业的脑子想问题。
找来的东西，在已有的认知框里。
撞上的东西，在认知框外面。
在框里找，找到的都是别人已经找到过的。
在框外撞，才有可能撞到别人没见过的。
没有意外的收获，那不叫创意，叫执行。
认知二 创意不是答案，是一把新铲子
挖出来的，叫答案。
是用已知的方法，解决已知的问题。
创意是——
挖着挖着，手里突然多了一把新铲子。
不是找到了什么。
是找到了一个全新的挖法。
这把新铲子，比任何具体的点子都值钱。
一个点子，值一万。
一个能持续产生点子的方法，值一百万。
一个能不断发明新方法的能力——无价。
创意的终点，不是得到一个答案。
是得到一种新的提问方式。
这两个认知，在读后面22个方法之前，必须装进脑子里。
否则只会把它们当成22个「找灵感的技巧」——
那就浪费了它们。
把它们当成22种「长出新铲子的姿势」。
第二部分 22个挖法
不是22个「灵感技巧」。
是22种「提高撞上意外概率」的具体做法。
每一个方法，三样东西：
是什么、怎么做、一句话。
一、挖自己——第一矿脉在身上
1 挖经历
做过的事，是第一矿脉。
行者知做过印刷厂、设计公司、农家乐、投资公司——
每个行当里都藏着别的行当想不到的解法。
方法：把过去做过的所有工作、项目、转折、失败，列一张清单。然后问：这段经历里的「体感颗粒」，能不能用在现在这件事上？
一句话：不是有经历，是有一座没开采的矿。
2 挖日常
重新审视每天必经、却从未细看的事物。
上班走的路。每天用的那只杯子。关灯的那个动作。
这些「习以为常」里，藏着别人没注意到的缝隙。
方法：选一件今天做了但完全没过脑子的事，盯着它看五分钟。问：它为什么长这样？能不能换一种方式？
一句话：日常不是无聊，是没翻过来看。
3 挖情绪
找到让烦躁、难过、或瞬间兴奋的触点。
情绪是指南针。
烦躁的地方，可能是很多人都烦、但没人去解决的问题。
兴奋的地方，可能是独有的敏感点。
方法：记录一周内最强烈的三次情绪波动。每次问一句：这个情绪在告诉我什么？
一句话：情绪不是干扰，是信号。
二、挖边界——答案在「不」的旁边
4 挖限制
把规则里的「不能」，当作材料，而不是牢笼。
预算不够？时间不够？条件不对？
这些「不能」，不是停下来的理由。
是逼着换一条路的信号。
方法：把项目里所有的限制条件列出来。先问：如果这些限制都不存在，会怎么做？再问：如果只保留其中三条限制，怎么在里面做出彩？
一句话：限制不是天花板，是起跑线。
5 挖反面
认定的方向，翻过来看。
所有人都往东走，试试往西。
所有人都觉得「应该这样」，问一句：「如果不这样呢？」
方法：写下对这件事的全部默认假设。然后一条一条推翻。
推翻不了的那条，可能是真理。
推翻得了的那条，可能是机会。
一句话：反面不是错，是没看的那一面。
6 挖认知边沿
灵感在认知的边沿。
或能看到，或抓不到，或陌生，或熟悉。
边沿在哪？
在熟悉和陌生的交界处。
在觉得「不太对」但又说不上来的地方。
方法：找一个完全不懂的领域，读三篇看不太懂的论文，看一个从没看过的行业的案例。然后把那个领域的逻辑，搬回自己的地盘。
一句话：认知的边沿，是还没长出来的触角。
三、挖外部——意外在别人手里
7 挖偶然
捕捉无心之失、口误、错版与意外匹配。
说错的那个词，可能比说对的更准。
印错的那个颜色，可能比计划的更好看。
行者知见过一个包装设计，灵感就来自一次印刷失误——
两种专色意外叠印出了一个谁也没调出来过的第三种颜色。
后来这个「意外色」，成了那个品牌最核心的识别。
方法：每次出现「意外结果」，不要急着否定。先问：它有没有可能比原计划的好？它有没有揭示一条没看到的路？
一句话：偶然不是错误，是没计划的创意。
8 挖石头
那些被搁置的、遗忘的、觉得「不行」的东西——
翻出来，重新看一眼。
之前放下的那些方案、那些想法、那些「先放着吧」的方向里，
可能藏着一块还没被认出来的玉。
只是当时时机不对，或者还没有能力把它磨出来。
方法：翻出过去三个项目里被搁置的所有草稿。一个一个看。问：如果现在重新做这个，能怎么让它活？
一句话：有些石头翻过来，里面是玉。
9 挖边缘人
去问那些从没用过产品的人——为什么绕道走。
用户夸奖，当然开心。
但那些不用、不买、用了又走的人，
他们嘴里有最需要听到的东西。
方法：找三个「本该是客户、但没选」的人。请他们喝杯东西，聊一聊。问一句：为什么不选？答案可能会有点不舒服。但那个不舒服的地方，就是矿脉的位置。
一句话：边缘人的沉默里，有没听过的真话。
10 挖沉默
记录客户、用户、团队一直没说出口的潜台词。
很多话，人们不说。
不是不想说，是不知道怎么开口。
或者觉得说了也没用。
方法：在会议里、对话里、用户反馈里，注意那些欲言又止的瞬间。那些「嗯……算了」的停顿，就是沉默的矿脉。
一句话：沉默不是没有意见，是没有被问对问题。
四、挖跨界——别人的铲子拿来用
11 跨界
一个行业用另一个行业的脑子想问题。
建筑怎么解决结构问题？能不能用在品牌架构上？
军队怎么训练决策速度？能不能用在团队管理上？
方法：选一个完全无关的行业。研究它最核心的三个方法。然后问：如果我用这个方法来解现在的问题，会怎样？
一句话：跨界不是偷别人的答案，是借别人的铲子。
12 挖时间差
看十年前的先锋，如何变成今天的常识。
然后用它的骨架，长今天的肉。
十年前被认为「太超前」的东西，今天可能刚刚好。
二十年前被淘汰的东西，今天可能因为新环境重新有用。
方法：翻出十年前的设计年鉴、行业报告、趋势预测。找出当时被说「太激进」「不可行」的东西。问：如果今天做，能不能落地？
一句话：时间差不是滞后，是提前埋伏。
13 挖物理
用纸、泥、绳、光——亲手摆弄。
让触觉带出念头。
不要在屏幕前一直调。
手，是比眼睛更古老的感知器官。
行者知有个习惯：重要项目的Logo，一定会打印出来，剪下来，贴在真实的物体上摸一摸。屏幕上看着再好的东西，摸到手里可能完全不是那么回事。触觉不会骗人。
方法：关掉屏幕。拿一张纸、一把剪刀、一支笔。用手摆、剪、画、折。让触觉带到鼠标点不到的地方。
一句话：物理世界是最好的随机生成器。
五、挖深处——往下刨
14 挖反讽
找出项目里最荒诞、或最矛盾的那句话。
把它当成标题。
「明明在帮客户省钱，客户却觉得在赚他钱」——
这句话，就是矿。
方法：写下现在项目里最哭笑不得的那句话。然后把它当成标题，围绕它重新构思。
一句话：反讽是真相穿错了衣服。
15 挖孩子
问一个小孩：「觉得还缺什么？」
然后，只取第一个答案。
小孩没有成见。小孩没有「这不可能」。小孩没有「这不合规矩」。
方法：找一个五到八岁的孩子。给他看东西。问他：「觉得还缺什么？」只取第一个答案。不要追问。不要解释。第一个答案，是最没有经过过滤的直觉。
一句话：孩子说的是直觉，说的是经验。经验会过期，直觉不会。
16 挖「如果反着来」
把所有默认假设，全部反过来。
如果产品不收费，怎么赚钱？
如果不用文字，怎么沟通？
如果不做大，怎么做强？
方法：列出项目里所有「理所当然」的假设。每一条都写一个反过来的版本。然后问：反过来的这个版本，有没有可能成立？
一句话：反着来不是幼稚，是换一个坐标系。
六、挖系统——找漏点
17 挖断点
在流程里、体验里、故事里——
找出那个「用户走了」的地方。
转化率掉了。读者划走了。用户不用了。
那个「掉下去」的地方，就是断点。
方法：画出产品或服务的完整用户路径。标出每一个用户可能离开的位置。然后选一个断点，做一次极限优化。
一句话：断点不是失败，是下一个增长点。
18 挖冗余
去掉一个环节，还能不能运转？
流程里，有没有「一直这么做、但不知道为什么」的步骤？
设计里，有没有「加上去显得很忙、但其实没用」的元素？
方法：把现在做的事，每一步都问一遍：「如果去掉这一步，会怎样？」如果答案是「好像也行」，那就去掉。
一句话：冗余不是安全，是没想清楚。
19 挖第一性原理
回到最原始的那个「为什么」。
不是「为什么要做这个产品」。
是「用户为什么需要这个功能」。
再往下：「人为什么会有这个需求」。
方法：连续问五次「为什么」。每一次回答都要比上一次更底层。第五层的答案，就是第一性原理的起点。
一句话：第一性原理不是高深，是刨到根。
七、挖未来——看远处
20 挖趋势断层
大家都在追的趋势里，有没有一个没人注意的裂缝？
所有人都做AIGC，做「不用AIGC但有手工感」。
所有人都做短视频，做「长，但值得看」。
方法：看行业报告、看投资趋势、看头部公司在做什么。然后问：他们都在做的那个方向里，漏掉了什么？
一句话：趋势不是方向，是别人的方向。方向，在趋势的裂缝里。
21 挖不可能
别人说「这不可能」的地方，可能就是护城河。
不是因为「可能」才去做。
是因为「别人觉得不可能」所以做成了——这才值钱。
方法：列出项目里「公认不可能」的三件事。选其中最小的一件，试一次。
一句话：不可能不是终点，是起跑线比别人靠前。
22 挖自己下一个版本
现在能做、但还没做的事，是什么？
不是「不会」。
是「会，但还没启动」。
方法：问一句——如果比现在强三倍，会做什么？那个答案，就是下一个版本的方向。
一句话：不是没有矿，是还没往下挖。
第三部分 怎么用——给工具箱配一把导航
不要一个一个挨着试。
这22个方法不是考试卷，不需要从头做到尾。
那样叫应付，不叫会用。
是按需取用。
不同的情况，选不同的方法。
◆ 卡住了，思路转不动——
试试第5个：挖反面
试试第4个：挖限制
试试第16个：挖「如果反着来」
这几个方法是帮人从死胡同里转身的。有时候离出路只差一个转身的距离。
◆ 没方向，不知道往哪走——
试试第11个：跨界
试试第12个：挖时间差
试试第20个：挖趋势断层
这几个方法，就像爬到附近最高的楼顶上。在地面看不清的路，站高了就看见了。
◆ 有想法但觉得不够深——
试试第1个：挖经历
试试第19个：挖第一性原理
试试第22个：挖自己下一个版本
好的想法往往不是凭空想出来的。是从已有的矿里，往深处再刨一铲子。
◆ 作品总是觉得「在哪见过」——
试试第7个：挖偶然
试试第8个：挖石头
试试第15个：挖孩子
新鲜感不在远方。在忽略掉的角落，在还没问过的人那里。
◆ 总觉得东西飘着，落不了地——
试试第13个：挖物理
试试第2个：挖日常
关掉屏幕。让手告诉鼠标不知道的事。
◆ 觉得看不清真实的问题是什么——
试试第10个：挖沉默
试试第9个：挖边缘人
试试第14个：挖反讽
真相常常藏在人们没说的那半句话里，或者藏在让人哭笑不得的那个矛盾里。
建立「挖矿习惯」
每天选一个方法。
花十五分钟。
只挖，不评价。
一周之后，看问题的角度会变。
不是因为学到了新知识。
是因为训练了新的注意力——
眼睛，开始习惯性地往没翻过的石头下面看一眼。
第四部分 验证：是不是真的挖到了
问自己三个问题：
第一个
这个方法能用在别的问题上吗？
只能解决当前问题——那是答案。
能迁移到别的项目——那是铲子。
第二个
用这个方法，能提出以前想不到的问题吗？
只能回答已知问题——那是答案。
能提出新问题——那是铲子。
第三个
这个方法会不会让自己过时？
答案被找到之后方法就失效了——那是答案。
方法本身能不断进化，越用越新——那是铲子。
最后一句实话
创意不是天赋。
创意是——把自己放在一个高概率撞上意外的地方，
然后有本事认出那个意外。
这22个方法，就是22个「高概率撞上意外的地方」。
但认出意外，需要判断力。
判断力哪里来？
从翻过的每一块石头、
撞上的每一次偶然、
推翻的每一次「理所当然」里来。
没有捷径。
只有挖。
灵感不在地下。
在没翻过的那些石头下面。
有些石头翻过来，里面是玉。
版本：20260511V1.0
17vis.com · 行者知
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English Version
Creativity Isn’t Found — It’s Stumbled Upon: 22 Excavation Methods and the Accidents You Meet
— 22 Excavation Methods · 2 Core Insights · Or a System for Sustained Creative Output
Creativity is — placing yourself where the probability of stumbling upon the unexpected is high,
and having the ability to recognize that unexpected thing.
Xingzhe Zhi
Introduction
Most people think creativity is a genius’s lightning bolt.
Wrong.
Creativity is — placing yourself where the probability of stumbling upon the unexpected is high, and having the ability to recognize that unexpected thing.
Part One: Two Core Insights
If the foundation is weak, the 22 methods that follow will be useless.
Insight One: Creativity Isn’t Excavated — It’s Stumbled Upon
All deliberate excavation is not meant to directly find the answer.
It’s meant to increase the probability of stumbling upon the unexpected.
Excavate the opposite, stumble upon the unexpected of reverse logic.
Excavate forgotten corners, stumble upon things set aside that still shine.
Cross boundaries, stumble upon one industry thinking with another industry’s brain.
What you find lies within your existing cognitive frame.
What you stumble upon lies outside it.
Searching inside, you only find what others have already found.
Stumbling outside, you might find what others haven’t seen.
Without unexpected discovery, that’s not creativity — that’s execution.
Insight Two: Creativity Isn’t the Answer — It’s a New Shovel
What you dig up is called an answer.
It’s using known methods to solve known problems.
Creativity is —
while digging, suddenly finding a new shovel in your hand.
It’s not about finding something.
It’s about finding an entirely new way to dig.
This new shovel is worth more than any specific idea.
One idea is worth ten thousand.
A method that continuously generates ideas is worth a million.
The ability to continuously invent new methods — priceless.
The end goal of creativity is not to get an answer.
It’s to gain a new way of asking questions.
These two insights must be embedded in your mind before reading the 22 methods that follow.
Otherwise, you’ll treat them as 22 “inspiration techniques” —
and that would waste them.
Treat them as 22 “postures for growing new shovels.”
Part Two: 22 Excavation Methods
Not 22 “inspiration techniques.”
22 specific practices for “increasing the probability of stumbling upon the unexpected.”
Each method includes three things:
What it is, how to do it, one sentence summary.
I. Excavate Yourself — The Primary Vein Is Within You
1. Excavate Experience
What you’ve done is the primary vein.
Xingzhe Zhi has worked in printing, design, agritainment, and investment —
each profession holds solutions that other professions wouldn’t think of.
How to do it: List all your past jobs, projects, turning points, and failures. Then ask: Can the “tactile particles” from this experience be applied to the current problem?
One sentence: It’s not about having experience — it’s about having an untapped mine.
2. Excavate the Everyday
Re-examine things you encounter daily but have never looked at closely.
The path you take to work. The cup you use every day. The act of turning off the light.
Within these “habits” lie cracks others haven’t noticed.
How to do it: Pick one thing you did today without thinking, stare at it for five minutes. Ask: Why is it this way? Could it be done differently?
One sentence: The everyday isn’t boring — it’s just not flipped over to look at.
3. Excavate Emotion
Find the triggers for frustration, sadness, or sudden excitement.
Emotion is a compass.
Where you’re frustrated might be a problem many are frustrated with, but no one has solved.
Where you’re excited might be your unique sensitivity.
How to do it: Record your three strongest emotional fluctuations in a week. Each time ask: What is this emotion telling me?
One sentence: Emotion isn’t interference — it’s a signal.
II. Excavate Boundaries — The Answer Lies Next to “No”
4. Excavate Constraints
Treat the “cannot” in the rules as material, not a cage.
Budget too low? Time too short? Conditions not right?
These “cannots” are not reasons to stop.
They are signals to force a different path.
How to do it: List all the constraints in your project. First ask: If none of these constraints existed, what would I do? Then ask: If only three constraints remained, how would I excel within them?
One sentence: Constraints aren’t the ceiling — they’re the starting line.
5. Excavate the Opposite
Flip your assumed direction over and look.
Everyone is going east — try going west.
Everyone thinks “this is how it should be” — ask: “What if it weren’t?”
How to do it: Write down all your default assumptions about the problem. Then overturn them one by one.
The one you can’t overturn might be truth.
The one you can overturn might be opportunity.
One sentence: The opposite isn’t wrong — it’s the side you haven’t looked at.
6. Excavate the Cognitive Edge
Inspiration lies at the edge of cognition.
Either visible, or just out of reach, or unfamiliar, or familiar.
Where is the edge?
At the boundary between familiar and unfamiliar.
Where it feels “a bit off” but you can’t quite explain it.
How to do it: Find a field you know nothing about. Read three papers you barely understand. Look at a case study from an industry you’ve never seen. Then transplant that field’s logic back into your own domain.
One sentence: The cognitive edge is where your antennae haven’t yet grown.
III. Excavate Externally — The Unexpected Is in Others’ Hands
7. Excavate the Accidental
Catch unintentional mistakes, slips of the tongue, misprints, and unexpected matches.
The word you said by mistake might be more accurate than the right one.
The color that printed wrong might look better than the planned one.
Xingzhe Zhi once saw a package design whose inspiration came from a printing error —
two spot colors accidentally overprinted to create a third color no one had ever mixed.
Later, this “accidental color” became the brand’s core identifier.
How to do it: Whenever an “unexpected result” appears, don’t immediately reject it. First ask: Could it be better than the original plan? Does it reveal a path I haven’t seen?
One sentence: Accidents aren’t mistakes — they’re unplanned creativity.
8. Excavate Stones
Those things set aside, forgotten, deemed “no good” —
dig them out, take another look.
Among the discarded plans, ideas, and “let’s put a pin in it” directions,
there might be a piece of jade not yet recognized.
Maybe the timing wasn’t right, or you didn’t yet have the ability to polish it.
How to do it: Dig out all the discarded drafts from your last three projects. Look at each one. Ask: If I did this again now, how could I make it work?
One sentence: Some stones, when flipped over, contain jade.
9. Excavate the Marginal
Ask those who have never used your product — why do they go around it?
User praise is of course gratifying.
But those who don’t use it, don’t buy it, or use it and leave —
their words hold what you most need to hear.
How to do it: Find three people who “should have been customers but chose not to be.” Invite them for a drink and a chat. Ask: Why didn’t you choose it? The answer might be uncomfortable. But that uncomfortable spot is where the vein lies.
One sentence: In the silence of the marginal lie truths you haven’t heard.
10. Excavate Silence
Capture the subtext that clients, users, and teams never say out loud.
Many things go unsaid.
Not because people don’t want to say them, but because they don’t know how.
Or they think it wouldn’t matter.
How to do it: In meetings, conversations, and user feedback, pay attention to moments of hesitation. Those “hmm…never mind” pauses are veins of silence.
One sentence: Silence isn’t the absence of opinion — it’s not being asked the right question.
IV. Excavate Cross-Boundary — Borrow Others’ Shovels
11. Cross Boundaries
One industry thinks with another industry’s brain.
How does architecture solve structural problems? Could it apply to brand architecture?
How does the military train decision-making speed? Could it apply to team management?
How to do it: Choose a completely unrelated industry. Study its three core methods. Then ask: What if I used this method to solve my current problem?
One sentence: Crossing boundaries isn’t stealing others’ answers — it’s borrowing their shovels.
12. Excavate Time Lag
Look at how the avant-garde of ten years ago became today’s common sense.
Then use their skeleton to grow today’s flesh.
What was considered “too ahead of its time” ten years ago might be just right today.
What was discarded twenty years ago might become useful again due to new circumstances.
How to do it: Dig out design yearbooks, industry reports, and trend forecasts from ten years ago. Find what was called “too radical” or “infeasible” at the time. Ask: If done today, could it be realized?
One sentence: Time lag isn’t lagging behind — it’s positioning in advance.
13. Excavate the Physical
Use paper, clay, rope, light — manipulate them with your hands.
Let touch bring out thoughts.
Don’t just adjust things on screen.
The hand is a more ancient perceptual organ than the eye.
Xingzhe Zhi has a habit: for important projects, he always prints out the logo, cuts it out, and sticks it on real objects to feel it. No matter how good something looks on screen, it might feel completely different in hand. Touch doesn’t lie.
How to do it: Turn off the screen. Take a piece of paper, scissors, a pen. Use your hands to arrange, cut, draw, fold. Let touch take you where the mouse can’t go.
One sentence: The physical world is the best random generator.
V. Excavate Deep — Dig Downward
14. Excavate Irony
Find the most absurd or contradictory statement in your project.
Use it as a headline.
“Clearly helping the client save money, yet the client feels like we’re taking it” —
that sentence is a mine.
How to do it: Write down the most laughable yet frustrating sentence in your current project. Then use it as a headline and restructure around it.
One sentence: Irony is truth wearing the wrong clothes.
15. Excavate a Child
Ask a child: “What’s missing?”
Then, only take the first answer.
Children have no preconceptions. Children have no “that’s impossible.” Children have no “that’s against the rules.”
How to do it: Find a child between five and eight. Show them something. Ask: “What’s missing?” Take only the first answer. Don’t probe. Don’t explain. The first answer is the least filtered intuition.
One sentence: Children speak in intuition; adults speak in experience. Experience expires. Intuition doesn’t.
16. Excavate “What If the Reverse”
Flip all your default assumptions completely.
If the product were free, how would it make money?
If you couldn’t use words, how would you communicate?
If not bigger, how to be stronger?
How to do it: List all the “taken for granted” assumptions in your project. Write a reversed version for each. Then ask: Could this reversed version possibly hold true?
One sentence: Reversal isn’t naivety — it’s changing the coordinate system.
VI. Excavate Systems — Find the Leaks
17. Excavate Breakpoints
In processes, experiences, stories —
find where the “user leaves.”
Conversion drops. Readers scroll away. Users stop using.
That place where they “drop off” is the breakpoint.
How to do it: Map out the complete user journey. Mark every place a user might leave. Then pick one breakpoint and make one extreme optimization.
One sentence: Breakpoints aren’t failures — they’re the next growth points.
18. Excavate Redundancy
If you remove a step, can it still function?
In your process, are there steps that are “always done this way, but no one knows why”?
In your design, are there elements that “add visual busyness but serve no real purpose”?
How to do it: For every step you’re doing, ask: “What if I removed this?” If the answer is “it would probably still work,” then remove it.
One sentence: Redundancy isn’t safety — it’s not thinking clearly.
19. Excavate First Principles
Go back to the most original “why.”
Not “why build this product.”
But “why does the user need this feature.”
And further down: “why do humans have this need.”
How to do it: Ask “why” five times in a row. Each answer should be more foundational than the last. The answer at the fifth level is the starting point of first principles.
One sentence: First principles aren’t abstruse — they’re digging to the root.
VII. Excavate the Future — Look Far
20. Excavate Trend Fault Lines
Within all the trends everyone is chasing, is there a crack no one has noticed?
Everyone is doing AIGC — do “not AIGC, but with a handmade feel.”
Everyone is doing short videos — do “long, but worth watching.”
How to do it: Read industry reports, investment trends, and see what top companies are doing. Then ask: What are they missing in the direction they’re all pursuing?
One sentence: Trends aren’t your direction — they’re other people’s direction. Your direction lies in the fault lines of trends.
21. Excavate the Impossible
Where others say “that’s impossible” might be your moat.
Not because it’s possible that you do it.
But because you succeed where others thought it impossible — that’s what’s valuable.
How to do it: List three things in your project that are “widely accepted as impossible.” Choose the smallest one. Try it once.
One sentence: Impossible isn’t the finish line — it’s starting ahead of everyone else.
22. Excavate Your Next Version
What can you do now, but haven’t yet done?
Not “can’t.”
But “can, but haven’t started.”
How to do it: Ask — what would you do if you were three times stronger than you are now? That answer is the direction of your next version.
One sentence: It’s not that there’s no mine — it’s that you haven’t started digging.
Part Three: How to Use It — Equip Your Toolkit with a Navigation System
Don’t try them one by one in order.
These 22 methods are not an exam paper — you don’t need to go from beginning to end.
That’s going through the motions, not knowing how to use them.
Use as needed.
Different situations call for different methods.
◆ Stuck, can’t turn your thinking —
Try #5: Excavate the Opposite
Try #4: Excavate Constraints
Try #16: Excavate “What If the Reverse”
These methods help you turn around in a dead end. Sometimes the exit is only a turn away.
◆ No direction, don’t know where to go —
Try #11: Cross Boundaries
Try #12: Excavate Time Lag
Try #20: Excavate Trend Fault Lines
These methods are like climbing to the top of the tallest building nearby. Paths invisible from the ground become visible from above.
◆ Have ideas but feel they’re not deep enough —
Try #1: Excavate Experience
Try #19: Excavate First Principles
Try #22: Excavate Your Next Version
Good ideas rarely come from nowhere. They come from digging one shovel deeper into an existing mine.
◆ Your work always feels like “I’ve seen this somewhere” —
Try #7: Excavate the Accidental
Try #8: Excavate Stones
Try #15: Excavate a Child
Freshness isn’t far away. It’s in the overlooked corners, in the people you haven’t yet asked.
◆ You always feel things are floating, not landing —
Try #13: Excavate the Physical
Try #2: Excavate the Everyday
Turn off the screen. Let your hand tell you what the mouse doesn’t know.
◆ You feel you can’t see what the real problem is —
Try #10: Excavate Silence
Try #9: Excavate the Marginal
Try #14: Excavate Irony
Truth is often hidden in the half-sentence people don’t finish, or in the contradiction that makes you laugh and cry at the same time.
Build an “Excavation Habit”
Choose one method each day.
Spend fifteen minutes.
Just dig — don’t judge.
After a week, your perspective on problems will shift.
Not because you’ve learned new knowledge.
Because you’ve trained a new attention —
Your eyes will habitually glance under the stones you haven’t flipped over.
Part Four: Verification — Have You Really Excavated Something?
Ask yourself three questions:
First:
Can this method be used on other problems?
If it only solves the current problem — that’s an answer.
If it can be transferred to other projects — that’s a shovel.
Second:
Does using this method allow you to ask questions you couldn’t think of before?
If it only answers known questions — that’s an answer.
If it generates new questions — that’s a shovel.
Third:
Does this method make itself obsolete?
If the method becomes useless once the answer is found — that’s an answer.
If the method itself can evolve, becoming fresher with use — that’s a shovel.
One Last Truth
Creativity is not talent.
Creativity is — placing yourself where the probability of stumbling upon the unexpected is high,
and having the ability to recognize that unexpected thing.
These 22 methods are 22 “places with a high probability of stumbling upon the unexpected.”
But recognizing the unexpected requires judgment.
Where does judgment come from?
From every stone you’ve flipped over,
every accident you’ve stumbled upon,
every “taken for granted” you’ve overturned.
There are no shortcuts.
Only excavation.
Inspiration is not underground.
It’s beneath the stones you haven’t yet flipped over.
Some stones, when flipped over, contain jade.
Version: 20260511V1.0
17vis.com · Xingzhe Zhi
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