While identifying flaws triggers critical thinking, spotting potential strengths fuels our creative instincts. Therefore, arguing for something we don't believe can enhance creativity.
Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari, has a trick for enhancing creativity:
"I would ask everyone to make a list of all the ideas that have been presented at our meetings and then have them rank those ideas from good to bad. I would then take the six items on the bottom of the list and say, let's suppose we were restricted for the next few months to work on just these six terrible projects. How do we make them work?"
While identifying flaws in an idea triggers our critical thinking, spotting potential strengths fuels our creative instincts. In essence, Bushnell's method flips our typical thought processes by promoting creativity over criticism.
Similarly, in debates, one must learn to debate both sides of any proposition. Arguing for something you don't believe can reshape your worldview and help you see issues you had not been able to see before.