A technique that helps you look at a problem from a new angle.

Who finds decision-making easy? Probably no one — especially when it comes to truly important matters: changing jobs, starting a business or relocating to another city or country.

In such situations, a classic “pros and cons” list may prove ineffective: looking at the same issue from the same perspective won’t generate new solutions. Instead, try approaching the question creatively, and the Phyle’s method can help you do exactly that.

What is the Phyle’s method?

The idea behind this method is quite simple: imagine you have your own personal advisory board made up of people whose opinions you respect. These advisors can be real people or fictional characters — of course, the board exists only in your imagination.

Formulate your question, mentally address each of these “advisors,” and try to imagine what they would say to you.

How to put this method into practice?

Here’s how it works. For example, you’re considering whether to quit your current job to start your own business. Now imagine that you’re sitting at the same table with the co-founder of multinational corporation Infosys Narayana Murthy, renowned film producer Aditya Chopra, and the executive chairperson of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

What advice would they give you?

Narayana Murthy would probably say that if you can’t get the idea of starting your own business out of your head, it’s worth it.

Aditya Chopra would likely recommend first thinking about the environment in which you work best — whether you thrive with a clear structure and team or when everything depends solely on you.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw would probably suggest not quitting right away, but testing your business on a small scale first.

Why does the Phyle’s method work?

When facing an important choice, you begin to consider it from all angles. Yet instead of clarity, you often experience overload: you keep going over the same arguments, comparing, doubting — and the more you think, the harder the decision becomes. Because no new ideas emerge.

The Phyle’s method helps you break out of this loop by shifting your focus from analysis to imagination, and that changes the entire thought process. Instead of the usual logic of “for” and “against”, you gain a richer, more nuanced view of the situation.

The method, of course, will not give you a ready-made answer. And that’s...wonderful! In return, you will get much more — your own solution that will suit you.

And if you are afraid of making the wrong choice, read one of our previous articles. Perhaps it will help you stop being afraid and start taking action: Why is there no freedom without mistakes?