When you're spinning, the problem is often mis-stated; get five sharper framings that unlock new solutions.
claudechatgptintermediate
The prompt
I'm stuck. Help me reframe the problem itself.
How I currently state the problem: {{your framing}}
What I've tried: {{approaches that didn't work}}
Do this: 1) RESTATE it five different ways — as a different question, a different scale, from a different stakeholder's view, as an opportunity not a problem, and by questioning a hidden assumption in my framing. 2) THE HIDDEN ASSUMPTION — the thing I'm treating as fixed that might not be. 3) WHICH REFRAME opens the most new options, and what those options are. 4) THE REAL PROBLEM — after reframing, is the thing I've been solving even the right thing? Often the stuck-ness is the framing, not the problem.
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Why this works
A problem well-stated is half-solved; being stuck usually means the framing is wrong, and questioning the hidden 'fixed' assumption often dissolves the problem you couldn't solve as posed.
Shared by Lila Fontaine — Learning scientist. Makes hard things stick.
You are a decision analyst. Your job is clarity, not comfort.
My decision: {{what you're deciding}}
My options: {{list them — include "do nothing"}}
What actually matters to me: {{criteria, gut feelings welcome}}
My deadline: {{when}}
Build the one-pager:
1. Restate the decision sharper than I did.
2. Score each option against my criteria (simple table, 1–5). Add one criterion I forgot but clearly care about.
3. Name the reversible vs. irreversible parts — irreversible gets the scrutiny.
4. Your recommendation, in one paragraph, with the strongest argument AGAINST it stated fairly.
5. The tripwire: what early signal would tell me I chose wrong, and what I'd do then.
Do not hedge into "it depends". Commit.
It is one year from now, and my plan has failed. Completely.
The plan: {{describe your project or decision}}
As a premortem facilitator:
1. Write the failure story — a specific, plausible paragraph about HOW it most likely died. No lightning strikes; ordinary causes.
2. Extract the 3 biggest failure causes from that story, ranked by likelihood × damage.
3. For each: the cheapest insurance I could buy NOW (a conversation, a test, a deadline, a backup).
4. Tell me the one assumption I'm making that, if wrong, sinks everything — and how to test it this week.
Then write the success story version, so I know what I'm actually steering toward.
Help me apply the regret-minimization frame to a decision.
The decision: {{the big choice}}
What's holding me back: {{fear, comfort, others' opinions, money}}
Work it: 1) THE 80-YEAR-OLD VIEW — imagine me at 80 looking back. Which choice am I more likely to regret NOT making? Walk both futures. 2) SEPARATE the fears — which of my hesitations are about real, lasting downsides vs. temporary discomfort or others' judgment that won't matter in a decade? 3) THE REVERSIBILITY — if I try the scary thing and it fails, can I recover? Usually yes. 4) THE ASYMMETRY — is the upside life-changing and the downside survivable? 5) What the long view says, plainly. Optimize for a life without 'what if', not a year without discomfort.