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.

Is it better to specialise and focus on one thing or broaden your activities and interests? It turns out that having at least one stimulating hobby or interest outside of work, or more than one area of focus within your work, is likely to increase your career success.

How do breakthroughs happen? It’s amazing how many times they start with a chance observation that triggers a spark which leads to a discovery.

Take the example of how the microwave oven came to be. The first one was built by a company called Raytheon in 1947, but the chance observation behind it took place two years earlier.

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.

The world is full of stories of nature inspiring real-world problem solving - sometimes in life saving ways. Business legend and philanthropist Bill Gates gives one of his favourite examples as being how the kangaroo inspired baby care. In the 1970’s two Colombian paediatricians, Edgar Rey and Hector Martinez, were struggling to care for pre-term infants due to inadequate and insufficient incubators in Bogota, Columbia. They turned to the natural world and took inspiration from how kangaroos care for their young.

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.

Does making a joke feel a bit frivolous? A distraction that should be avoided? Or saved for after work? If so, it may be worth taking a quick step back to look at what the brain is doing when making a joke, and the benefits of doing so.

What if we didn’t need to start from scratch when trying to solve a problem or if a partial blueprint already existed? The trick is often knowing where to look. How often do you take inspiration from nature and the natural world as a place to start?

One example (from many!) is how the porcupine quill is inspiring the design of surgical staples to help improve the healing process.

How often have things in your life been influenced by a chance encounter or a happy accident? Chances are there's been a few.

Happy accidents have had a huge influence on our lives. Take Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin by chance after he went on holiday in 1928 without washing away his bacteria samples and on return found bacteria fighting fungus growing in his absence.

Stuck? Ask yourself ‘Where in the world has my challenge been faced before?’ That’s exactly what Helen Barnett Diserens, the creator of the roll-on deodorant did. Previously, deodorant was only available in a paste form and it was messy to apply. Rather than looking at close-to-home solutions within the cosmetic industry, she was instead inspired by the way that ink flowed from a ballpoint pen and she saw how the process could be applied to any liquid with similar properties.* The roll on deodorant has gone on to become one of the most popular hygiene products in history.

You don't have to be a novelist or poet to make effective use of analogies. An analogy is simply a comparison of two things that show their similarities and takes a familiar idea to help explain a complex or new one.

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.

Do you ever collide together what you know from completely different areas of your life to see new connections, similarities and opportunities? It's sometimes called the 'polymath mindset'*, this is all about synthesising and combining apparently disparate ideas together in new ways to create novel solutions.

When stuck on a challenge or problem, try thinking specifically about what you can learn from nature.

It’s a particularly fruitful area for inspiration and has led to many fascinating innovations; from hospital surfaces inspired by sharks, to the bullet train inspired by the kingfisher.

What if we could learn something from improvising musicians, freestyle rappers and improv comedians?

One thing improvisers are taught is to think ‘YES’ (they have to run with whatever thread is thrown at them, it falls over if they block an idea) – quickly followed by ‘AND’ (as they have to the build upon the idea and add to it in some way).

Embrace your natural curiosity - in the most unexpected places. Whenever you hear interesting facts, ideas or stories take notice and see what you could learn from them. Ask yourself what new learnings or fresh inspiration you could take to apply to your own challenges.