Need Creative Solutions? Need New Ideas? Get Out and Move

Here's an all-too-common problem: You are stumped for a solution to a problem. You need new ideas and you need to turn on your creative mind.

Next time you find yourself in this situation, try this method for coming up with new ideas:

1. Write out a list of open-ended questions that describe the problem you are trying to solve. The more thoroughly you write about the problem in the form of questions, the better your answers will be.
2. Next get outside and take a walk. Really you can be flexible here, you can also go hiking, running or hop on a bike. The main two ingredients you are looking for are fresh air and exercise.
3. Often your ideas will come to you while you are walking and you will hardly be able to wait until you can get back to write down your new ideas.
4. At other times, it will seem as if your solutions are just on the edge of your mind, but not yet clearly in focus yet. When this happens, come home and start doing some non-stop writing in a journal you keep. This means you write down everything that comes to mind and you don't stop writing until you have written for ten minutes (a kitchen timer is a great tool for this).
5. If you came up with your new idea when you wrote, then run with it. Otherwise, simply review what you've written, also review the list of questions you wrote before you took your walk, and highlight a few segments that seem almost on target. Then if need be, write again for another ten minutes.

Almost inevitably, your solutions and ideas will have come to you before you get to this stage. On the off chance that you still have little to show for your efforts, get with someone else and do some brainstorming.

Ideas need time to grow, but the change between sitting at a desk "thinking" and getting out and moving your body is an idea generator that you should find works at least 90% of the time. When you add the non-stop writing exercise, you are bordering on a sure thing.