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It's important to get away from all the typical routines in order to foster creativity. The idea of changing it up is a common one amongst successful and creative thinkers. This means that you either create a specific ritual around creativity, or that you simply find a way to take a break. Take a shower. There is something weirdly conducive about showering, as anyone who's had that amazing idea while stuck in the shower (only to forget it when you finally locate a pen and paper). If you're stuck on an idea, hop in the shower, with a pen and some paper handy and see what comes up. Go for a walk. Like showering, something about walking fosters creativity. Whether it's taking a walk as a prelude to getting started with your creative project, or as part of the project itself, taking a walk will help get those creative juices flowing. Steve Jobs used to hold walking meetings to brainstorm ideas. Tchaikovsky took several walks around his village before working on his latest creation. Create psychological distance between your normal routine and the time for creativity. Writer Toni Morrison always watched the sun come up in the morning before she would begin writing. She felt that this enabled her to access her creativity. . Throwing out tons of different ideas, especially ideas that might seem slightly off-the-wall can be a great idea to pick out a few really good ideas. Brainstorming helps to open up your thinking so that you aren't stuck in the same old thought patterns. The brainstorming stage isn't about what is or isn't feasible. Avoid limiting yourself when you're brainstorming. This is the time when all ideas are welcome, no matter how silly or unworkable they sound. If you start limiting yourself during this stage of the thinking game, you aren't going to progress very far. Avoid saying things to yourself during this phase that will shut down creativity rather than encourage it. Catch yourself anytime you say: "That won't work," "We haven't done it that way before," "We can't solve this problem," "We don't have enough time." For example: say you get stuck while writing your new story. Instead of obsessing over the next stage of the story, start thinking throwing out ideas for what might happen next, or how the story might progress if there were no boundaries on what you could write (even if you needed to change the ending to make the story possible). Part of finding creative solutions and ideas stems from looking at the problem or project in a new way. Looking at something in a new way allows you to look at new possible solutions that you might not otherwise have considered. Fortunately, there are some concrete aids to re-conceptualizing that you can drawn on. Turn the problem upside down. This can be done literally or figuratively; turning a picture upside down can actually make it easier to draw, because your brain has to look at it in terms of it's makings rather than what it thinks should be there. This works for more conceptual problems. For example, if you're writing a book and you can't figure out how to get the protagonist to a certain spot in the story, ask yourself "does this character actually need to be the protagonist? how would the story work with a different character as protagonist? or more than one character?"). Work backwards. Sometimes what you need is to focus on the solution first, and build backwards from that solution. For example: say you work in the advertising position at a newspaper. The paper is losing money because it hasn't been getting enough ads. Start from the final, best outcome (having lots of the right kind of ads). Work backwards by contacting the types of businesses and groups that can provide the best, most cost-effective ads. Daydreaming helps you to make connections and form patterns and recall information. This is key when you're thinking outside the box, because daydreaming can help you make connections that you might not otherwise have considered. So often your best ideas seem to come out of nowhere while you're daydreaming. Give yourself time to daydream. Turn off the computer, t.v., and your phone. If you're constantly plugged into distractions it will be much harder for your brain to rest and make connections. You can daydream while on that walk, or in the shower (this is one reason taking time to go for a walk or shower can be so conducive to creative thinking). Daydream in the morning before you have to get up, or at night before you fall asleep. Sometimes if you're having difficulty thinking outside the box, it's time to give yourself some basic parameters. This may seem like it would hinder creativity, but if you set the right parameters you'll find that it can actually open things up for you. Starting too broad can put too much pressure on you. For example: instead of saying "how can I increase ad sales" ask questions like "how can I encourage ad growth from businesses in the community? what can I do to make ads in our paper seem like a good option?" or "how can I target the businesses most likely to place ads in our paper?" or "what compensations can I use to encourage businesses to advertise?" You're still asking open questions and still considering a wide variety of options, but you're anchoring your ideas to a specific question or task. This will help you come up with more specific ideas. As another example: instead of asking yourself "how can I make my young adult novel different than the others on the market?" you consider more specific parts of the story: "who is the main character? is this main character just like every other main character (white, heterosexual, pretty but doesn't know it?)?" or if it's a fantasy novel "what is the magic system like? is it the vague paganesque, witchy magic that is popping up all over the YA section?" Or you could tell yourself that you have to rewrite a scene in your story only now the character doesn't have access to their magic. How are they going to get out of the situation? Fear is what holds back creativity. Fear is what makes you stick the paths that you know the best. When you consider the worst case scenario not only can you plan for it, but you can also convince yourself that the worst case scenario isn't bad enough that you shouldn't try. For the ad person example: you might consider what will happen if you try to implement a creative new scheme to offer incentives for long-time advertising partners (like better placement in the layout, a full color ad for a reduced price, etc.). Perhaps the worst that could happen is that no one takes the offer, or that you lose money because of it. Come up with plans for how you might deal with these potential setbacks. For the novel-writing example: your worst case scenario might be that no publisher or agent wants to market your novel because what they actually want is a clone of the latest YA bestseller.
Change your space. Brainstorm Re-conceptualize the problem. Daydream. Set parameters. Consider the worst case scenario.