1. Set aside time to think. Google gives its engineer a thinking day each week. This has been shown to increases their creativity – and also their productivity.

2. Play games. Research indicates that playing competitive games encourages us to come up with more creative strategies and solutions. This can be applied to all areas of life.

3. Learn from your mistakes. Sometimes inspiration and genius comes from connecting the dots between your mistakes.

4. Ditch the rules. Often thinking outside the box – and abandoning the normal practices and rules – can free your mind to think of a completely new solution.

5. Give yourself permission to fail. If you’re too scared of failing then you’ll never take a risk. And don’t be afraid of sometimes going down blind alleys.

6.  Break with the routine. Change the order that you do things, your environment, or room. That breaks old thinking patterns, and creates new ideas.

7. Talk to others. We can learn a lot from others as we’re all individuals – with different thoughts, perspectives, dreams and life experiences.