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David Carson
David CarsonDavid Carson helps people use dumb-thinking as a superpower. He's a builder of ideas—some that seemed ridiculous at first, but ended up changing the game. His work, from shaping brands like American Express, Nike, Coca-Cola and IKEA to collaborating with inventive minds at Mother and Ogilvy, has sparked solutions that stick with people. Carson doesn’t just solve problems; he flips them over, asks the wrong questions, and finds answers no one saw coming. Millions have felt the ripple of his unorthodox thinking, whether they realize it or not.
Why Your Brain Craves What You're Afraid to Give It

Why Your Brain Craves What You're Afraid to Give It

When the problem is too much versus too little

David Carson
David Carson
Aug 14, 2025
Allergic to Impossible

Allergic to Impossible

The Unreasonable Mindset Behind Freezer Laptops, X-Rays, and Lab-Grown Organs

David Carson
David Carson
Aug 7, 2025
Embrace Your Inner Amateur

Embrace Your Inner Amateur

Why your brain gets bored by perfection and energized by anomalies

David Carson
David Carson
Jul 31, 2025
Why the Best Ideas Sound Like the Worst Ideas

Why the Best Ideas Sound Like the Worst Ideas

Discover why breakthrough innovations from karaoke to CPR sounded so terrible that experts tried to ban them—and how to spot the hidden brilliance in ideas that make everyone cringe.

David Carson
David Carson
Jul 24, 2025
Why the Smartest People Break the Rules (on Purpose)

Why the Smartest People Break the Rules (on Purpose)

How originality is just disobedience with good timing.

David Carson
David Carson
Jul 17, 2025
Why I Schedule Time to Space Out (and Why You Should Too)

Why I Schedule Time to Space Out (and Why You Should Too)

Learn how zoning out can bulk up your brain — no pushups, just pixels and pub crawls.

David Carson
David Carson
Jul 10, 2025
What if everything you think is wrong... is right?

What if everything you think is wrong... is right?

How to use "The Opposite Method" (AKA, "The George Costanza")

David Carson
David Carson
Jul 3, 2025
Stuck? Try This Absurd Trick That Actually Works

Stuck? Try This Absurd Trick That Actually Works

The not-so-stupid science of solving problems by getting lost.

David Carson
David Carson
Jun 26, 2025
The Ideas That Duck & Cover

The Ideas That Duck & Cover

Why brilliant ideas ghost us — and how to snag them before they disappear.

David Carson
David Carson
Jun 19, 2025
Make a Fortune Being Useless

Make a Fortune Being Useless

Three entrepreneurs who got rich selling air, aliens, and absolutely nothing — and what they know about meaning that economists don’t.

David Carson
David Carson
Jun 12, 2025
The Day I Tried to Fake My Jog and Discovered the Meaning of Life

The Day I Tried to Fake My Jog and Discovered the Meaning of Life

The art of following someone's logic so far down the rabbit hole that you emerge on the other side of sanity with a clearer view of the problem.

David Carson
David Carson
Jun 5, 2025
The Age of Appstinence

The Age of Appstinence

When deleting your apps turns into your biggest life-upgrade flex.

David Carson
David Carson
May 29, 2025
Why Boredom Is Brain Fuel

Why Boredom Is Brain Fuel

The genius of being bored out of your mind.

David Carson
David Carson
May 22, 2025
Steal Like a Genius

Steal Like a Genius

Showing you how to grab what works, twist it sideways, and walk off looking original.

David Carson
David Carson
May 15, 2025
Kittens, Burritos & Billion‐Dollar Buffoonery

Kittens, Burritos & Billion‐Dollar Buffoonery

Meet Elan Lee, the game‐design renegade who weaponises dumb ideas for maximum joy—and sells a game every 4‐to‐6 seconds while he’s at it.

David Carson
David Carson
May 8, 2025
Weird Science

Weird Science

How to train your brain to see breakthroughs hiding in plain sight.

David Carson
David Carson
May 1, 2025
Why the smartest people sound dumb

Why the smartest people sound dumb

And the average sound exhausting.

David Carson
David Carson
Apr 24, 2025
Shower Epiphanies

Shower Epiphanies

Why our best ideas show up in the shower—and how to stop scrubbing them away before they see daylight.

David Carson
David Carson
Apr 17, 2025
Dejunk Your Head

Dejunk Your Head

A Spring Cleaning for Your Brain, Without the Lemon Scent

David Carson
David Carson
Apr 10, 2025
Thoughts Have Left the Building

Thoughts Have Left the Building

Mental flexibility for people who hate stretching

David Carson
David Carson
Apr 3, 2025
Mindfulness, but for weird ideas

Mindfulness, but for weird ideas

Or, How I Learned to Stop Freaking Out and Listen to My Brain Without Screaming

David Carson
David Carson
Mar 27, 2025
Giving Yourself Permission to Be Ridiculous

Giving Yourself Permission to Be Ridiculous

The creative hack you need.

David Carson
David Carson
Mar 20, 2025
What if Your Mind Went Rogue?

What if Your Mind Went Rogue?

How a little "strategic randomness" can fuel your creativity.

David Carson
David Carson
Mar 13, 2025
Tired of ‘playing it smart’?

Tired of ‘playing it smart’?

Think Like a Fool, Solve Like a Genius

David Carson
David Carson
Mar 6, 2025
Un-complicate Your Life

Un-complicate Your Life

A 'dumb' mental model for cutting through complexity.

David Carson
David Carson
Feb 27, 2025
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