Generate, Then Execute
Trying to create and judge at the same time is why people stare at blank pages — every idea gets killed before it's finished. This enforces the split the best thinkers use: first a pure divergent pass where evaluation is banned and volume/weirdness is the goal, then a clean switch to a ruthless critic that scores, prunes, and keeps only what's strong. Two modes, never mixed.
What This Skill Produces
- A generation pass — many ideas, fast, with no evaluation, ranking, or "but that won't work" allowed; wild and half-formed ideas welcome
- A hard break — an explicit switch of mode, so judgment doesn't leak backward into generation
- A critique pass — a separate, adversarial read that scores each idea, finds the traps, and prunes hard
- The survivors — the few ideas that made it through both, with why they held
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
- The prompt — what you're generating ideas for
- Roughly how many — a target volume for the generation pass (more than feels comfortable)
- The judging criteria — what "good" means, applied only in the critique pass
- Constraints — real ones (for the critic), not imagined ones (which the generator ignores)
Framework: Two Modes, Never At Once
- Generate with zero judgment. In this pass, evaluation, sorting, and hedging are forbidden. Chase quantity and range; let bad and weird ideas exist — they seed good ones.
- Go past the comfortable stopping point. The first ideas are obvious; keep generating well past where it feels done.
- Make a clean break. Explicitly end generation before any judging — mixing them is the whole problem.
- Switch to ruthless critic. Now evaluate hard: score against the real criteria, find the failure modes, and cut without sentiment.
- Keep only the strong. Surface the survivors and why — and note if a "bad" generated idea sparked a good one.
Output Format
Prompt: [what we're ideating on]
⚡ Generation (no judging)
[Many ideas, listed fast — wild ones included, none evaluated.]
— switching modes —
🔪 Critique (ruthless)
| Idea |
Score |
The trap / why it fails or holds |
Survivors: [the few worth pursuing + why].
Quality Checks
Anti-Patterns
- Judging while generating — "here's an idea, though it probably won't work."
- Too few ideas in the generation pass.
- A soft critique that keeps everything.
- Letting real constraints shut down the generation pass (save them for the critic).
Example Trigger Phrases
- "Help me brainstorm without shutting my own ideas down."
- "I keep editing while I create and get nothing done — separate the two."
- "Do a proper divergent brainstorm, then tear it apart."
- "Generate a ton of options for this, then judge them."
- "Give me quantity first, quality second."
1---2name: generate-then-execute3description: Separate raw idea-generation from judgment so creativity isn't strangled by your inner critic — diverge with zero evaluation, then switch to hard critique. Use when asked to brainstorm properly, help me come up with ideas without shutting them down, I keep censoring my own ideas, or separate creating from editing. Produces a pure generation pass (quantity, no judging, no hedging, wild allowed), a clean break, then a separate ruthless critique pass that scores and prunes — because doing both at once produces neither.4---5
6# Generate, Then Execute
7
8Trying to create and judge at the same time is why people stare at blank pages — every idea gets killed before it's finished. This enforces the split the best thinkers use: first a pure divergent pass where evaluation is *banned* and volume/weirdness is the goal, then a clean switch to a ruthless critic that scores, prunes, and keeps only what's strong. Two modes, never mixed.
9
10## What This Skill Produces
11
12- **A generation pass** — many ideas, fast, with no evaluation, ranking, or "but that won't work" allowed; wild and half-formed ideas welcome
13- **A hard break** — an explicit switch of mode, so judgment doesn't leak backward into generation
14- **A critique pass** — a separate, adversarial read that scores each idea, finds the traps, and prunes hard
15- **The survivors** — the few ideas that made it through both, with why they held
16
17## Required Inputs
18
19Ask for these if not provided:
20- **The prompt** — what you're generating ideas for
21- **Roughly how many** — a target volume for the generation pass (more than feels comfortable)
22- **The judging criteria** — what "good" means, applied only in the critique pass
23- **Constraints** — real ones (for the critic), not imagined ones (which the generator ignores)
24
25## Framework: Two Modes, Never At Once
26
271. **Generate with zero judgment.** In this pass, evaluation, sorting, and hedging are forbidden. Chase quantity and range; let bad and weird ideas exist — they seed good ones.
282. **Go past the comfortable stopping point.** The first ideas are obvious; keep generating well past where it feels done.
293. **Make a clean break.** Explicitly end generation before any judging — mixing them is the whole problem.
304. **Switch to ruthless critic.** Now evaluate hard: score against the real criteria, find the failure modes, and cut without sentiment.
315. **Keep only the strong.** Surface the survivors and *why* — and note if a "bad" generated idea sparked a good one.
32
33## Output Format
34
35### Prompt: [what we're ideating on]
36
37**⚡ Generation (no judging)**
38[Many ideas, listed fast — wild ones included, none evaluated.]
39
40**— switching modes —**
41
42**🔪 Critique (ruthless)**
43| Idea | Score | The trap / why it fails or holds |
44|---|---|---|
45
46**Survivors:** [the few worth pursuing + why].
47
48## Quality Checks
49- [ ] The generation pass contains NO evaluation or hedging
50- [ ] Volume/range is high; it pushes past the obvious ideas
51- [ ] There's a clean, explicit break between the two modes
52- [ ] The critique pass is genuinely hard, not gentle
53- [ ] Survivors are justified against the real criteria
54
55## Anti-Patterns
56- **Judging while generating** — "here's an idea, though it probably won't work."
57- **Too few ideas** in the generation pass.
58- **A soft critique** that keeps everything.
59- **Letting real constraints** shut down the generation pass (save them for the critic).
60
61## Example Trigger Phrases
62- "Help me brainstorm without shutting my own ideas down."
63- "I keep editing while I create and get nothing done — separate the two."
64- "Do a proper divergent brainstorm, then tear it apart."
65- "Generate a ton of options for this, then judge them."
66- "Give me quantity first, quality second."
Mohit Aggarwal