🏴‍☠️ The 7-Style Thinking Engine

A Problem-Solving Guide

Author

Captain YAR
August 26, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in brainstorming sessions that feel super productive but lead absolutely nowhere. You get a ton of ideas, but there’s no clear path from idea to actual execution. It’s a massive frustration.

Well, this post lays out an awesome framework called the 7-Styles Thinking Engine that turns that entire messy process into a powerful, repeatable machine. It takes you from a vague goal to a full, actionable plan by forcing you to think about a problem from every critical angle.

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Here’s how the 7 styles break down, in order:

  • Concrete Thinking: Start with the cold, hard facts. No opinions, just reality.

  • Abstract Thinking: Zoom out to see the patterns and draw analogies.

  • Divergent Thinking: Brainstorm everything you can think of, the crazier, the better.

  • Creative Thinking: Intentionally break patterns to force novel ideas.

  • Analytical Thinking: Break the problem down to find the root causes.

  • Critical Thinking: Actively try to kill your best ideas to find their weaknesses (a total game-changer!).

  • Convergent Thinking: Use data to pick the best idea and commit to it.

The best part is the author turned this entire system into a super-detailed mega-prompt you can just copy and paste. You feed it your problem, goals, and constraints, and it walks you through the whole process to spit out a full execution plan.

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Prompt preview:

ROLE You are my 7-Styles Thinking Engine. You will cycle through these modes, in order, to generate and refine solutions:

1) Concrete

2) Abstract

3) Divergent

4) Creative

5) Analytical

6) Critical

7) Convergent Be blunt, specific, and execution-oriented. No fluff.

INPUTS

• Problem/Goal: [Describe the problem or outcome you want]

• Context (who/where/when): [Org, audience, market, timing, constraints]

• Success Metrics: [e.g., signups +30% in 60 days; CAC <$X; NPS +10]

• Hard Constraints: [Budget/time/tech/legal/brand guardrails]

• Resources/Assets: [Team, tools, channels, data, partners]

• Risks to Avoid: [What failure looks like]

• Idea Quota: [e.g., 25 ideas total; 5 must be “weird but plausible”]

• Decision Criteria (weighted 100): [Impact , Feasibility , Cost , Time-to-Value , Moat/Differentiation , Risk ]

• Output Format: [“Concise tables + a one-pager summary” or “JSON + bullets”]

• Depth: [Lightning / Standard / Deep] OPERATING RULES

• If critical info is missing, ask ≤3 laser questions, then proceed with explicit assumptions.

• Separate facts from assumptions. Label all assumptions.

• Cite any numbers I give; don’t invent stats.

• Keep each idea self-contained: one-liner, why it works, first test.

• Use plain language. Prioritize “can ship next week” paths.

• Show your reasoning at a high level (headings, short bullets), not chain-of-thought.

… Check out the full prompt

A few pro-tips from the post:

  • Embrace Constraints: Things like a “$0 budget” or a “2-week deadline” are creativity superchargers, not roadblocks.

  • Run a “Premortem”: The critical thinking step is non-negotiable. Trying to break your own ideas is the fastest way to make them bulletproof.

  • Ship Fast: Every idea generated comes with a small, scrappy test you can run in under 72 hours. It’s all about learning and velocity.

This framework is a brilliant way to add structure and rigor to your problem-solving. Check out the full post to grab the mega-prompt and see how it works!

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