My brother and I love to solve brainteasers.

Over the years, I have found that asking some specific questions can help you solve a puzzle, a lot faster.

You can also use these questions if you are stuck with a problem or looking for a new idea.

Here’s the list:

• Look for evidence to contradict the information
• Try the opposite. What is my first reaction and what is the complete opposite of my idea?
• List all the assumptions that apply to the problem that you are making. Try to break each assumption.
• Ask plenty of basic questions in order to challenge the assumption.
• Ask “what if” questions. What if I break this rule deliberately?
• Do not set out to solve the problem. Ask yourself questions.You have to find the underlying cause.
• How would someone else view this situation?
• How can I understand this issue better before attempting to solve it.
• Ask yourself what does it ask me to do?
• What linguistic, logical, mathematical feature is applicable?
• If question seems very hard ask yourself, can the puzzle/question be reduced to or compared to a simpler version that I have solved/done before?
• Can I solve this with diagram/chart?
• What resources can I consult to get help?
• Look for facts.
• Paraphrase it in your own words, inspecting and comparing the original to your version very carefully. You might get the relevant insight from this.
• In what ways your idea/answer could be wrong?
• Thinking about outcomes you believe to be unlikely, yet possible can help you anticipate things to come.
• Which parts did I ignore or skim over without realizing?
• Last but not least, if you speak multiple languages then translate the question in a different language.
• Analyze the problem long enough. Give yourself time.

If you can’t come up with an answer and you feel like giving up. Go look-up the answer and ask yourself: Why did I miss it? What did I overlook? What I didn’t pay attention to?

If you do come up with the right answer and it took you a while then ask yourself: Why it took me so long?

You must be thinking why did I post an article about brainteaser on a trading/investing blog?

I think a lot of our problems can be solved if we think of them as a game.

At ExDiogenesResearch, we use these strategies to come up with new ideas and to challenge our thinking.