As we know, walking helps our creative juices flow. What is also becoming clearer is that how we walk is important too. As Dr Barbara Handel, neuroscientist from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg reveals, “It is not the exercise itself that helps us think more flexibly.” It’s moving with the freedom to go in any direction that’s most helpful.

When things are established, familiar and work well, it’s rare to question whether there’s an alternative that may prove better. Yet, experimenting and trying new things without an obvious need can sometimes result in a step change.

Have you heard of The Medici Effect? It’s a term inspired by the powerful Italian bankers, the Medici family, who were at the heart of breaking down traditional barriers to ignite the burst of Renaissance creativity.

Sometimes the tried and tested responses and the ‘typical’ ways don’t work. There are times when loosening the reins on your existing habits and established ideas are essential, particularly in fast moving and changeable environments. Sticking to the 'usual' plan may be the worst thing you can do. Sometimes a new idea that crops up is exactly the right idea to follow. Getting ready to improvise is about getting ready to reinvent new combinations from what you already have or know. And sometimes it can even be a life saver.

When you want to make a change or an improvement do you tend to start from scratch or do you look for a similar idea elsewhere? Many of us start from scratch because it’s not always obvious that a precursor for an idea already exists which could prove helpful to adapt from. Why isn’t it obvious? Because many precursor ideas come from different industries, parts of life or separate places that you may not naturally be exposed to.

We all know it’s good to take proper breaks during the day. There are endless articles giving endless reasons around increased mental and physical wellbeing, better work-life balance and improved performance. The focus is usually on the beneficial impact on our bodies and brains. However, it can also be the case that the activities we do in these breaks provide just the opportunistic spark of practical inspiration we need. Whatever we do, we shouldn’t waste these sources of inspiration right in front of us.

It often makes sense to look at other people’s solutions; to steal inspiration and nab fresh ideas. However, it also limits us to what other people have done. There’s a huge amount of inspiration that can come from looking beyond what others have already tried.

Oranges came about from crossing the pomelo fruit with the mandarin. The story didn't stop there. The pomelo was then re-mixed back with the orange in order to give us the grapefruit, which was determined as a distinct fruit in its own right in 1837.

Interesting outcomes come from mixes. The same is true when we mix ideas together – particularly when we work with others to do so.

Sometimes it’s hard to think beyond the familiar, even if the desire to do so is there. Going to the extremes can be a way to get beyond typical, obvious and predictable ideas. Going to extremes not only allows you to see ideas more clearly, it can help expose assumptions that are holding your ideas back and can rapidly open up the window of possibility in your mind. It’s not that all the final ideas themselves need to be extreme solutions, but the way to get to the best ones may be.

Not all ingenious ideas come about in a flash.

Not everyone experiences Eureka moments such as those made famous by Archimedes the Greek mathematician and scientist who worked out that the way to tell if the king’s crown was made of pure gold or of cheaper metal was by the amount of water it displaced. His Eureka moment is said to have come about whilst stepping into his bath and realising that the amount of water displaced was proportional to the weight of the object immersed in it.

In February 1869 Dmitri Mendeleev had a dream. It turned out to be quite an important dream which delivered an important outcome – the periodic table. Mendeleev had been working tirelessly to solve an incredibly complex problem: how to logically organise all the known elements in the universe. He had created a set of cards of all the elements that he would regularly shuffle and deal, with the hope that he find the rules that would explain how they all fitted together. He did this repeatedly and failed to crack the code. However, it was his dreaming brain that eventually solved what his awake brain could not.

When was the last time you were bored; when those little moments and tiny cracks in the day were left unfilled – while waiting for the lift, queuing for a sandwich or arriving early for a meeting?  Do you allow boredom to creep in, or are spaces quickly filled with snippets of news, a quick text or a catch up post?  

We crave stimulus and it’s only when we can’t find it externally that our minds tend to create it internally; sparking innovative ideas and solutions.

It may sound cliché to talk about getting your best ideas in the shower, but there’s a lot of evidence to suggest it’s a great habit for your mind. Did you know that 72% of people get their best ideas in the shower*.

Stepping away from a difficult problem and creating space for solitude distracts the brain just enough to give it a chance to stop thinking deliberately about your challenge and daydream a little.

Look for new ideas to emulate, combine and adapt to your own situation. Good imitators go far and wide in search for fresh inspiration from diverse reference points and areas of life they don’t usually experience.

Take more walks. Leave all distractions behind. Don’t think about anything in particular, but once you’re back, consider what ideas crossed your mind.

It can be really helpful to mull ideas over to help prime for 'ah-ha' moments.