Have you ever found yourself sitting in a slump, unable to figure out how, or what, to do. Sometimes, the best option is to just try something; anything. Don’t fear failure. Just call it a trial, or test run; basically, “it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” Often, I if you do one of these “nothing” projects it’ll turn into something unexpectedly awesome.

Let’s play a word game today. Use office e-mail if necessary (some environments require silence). Get as many people involved as possible for the best experience.
The game rules are simple:
1. Say a two part name (first, surname) of a relatively famous person (one of the top five persons found when searching for the name on Google).
2. The next player says a two part famous name using a derivative of the previous surname as the first name (Johnson becomes John, if necessary).
3. Repeat step two until a player runs out of names to use. The unsuccessful player is eliminated from play.
4. The game starts over at step #1 with a new name entered by the previously successful player.
5. Play ends when only one player remains.

When push comes to shove, it’s always good to have a plan in place for when the demand for creativity at work outweighs the supply. Much like a savings account for creativity, anytime you have a spare idea set it aside in a safe place and only draw from that creativity savings when you really just can’t think of anything new.

One of the hardest parts of maintaining constant creativity for work is always being given free range to produce… whatever. It’s often said “necessity is the mother of invention” and that’s true. A way to induce the necessity that will force invention is to limit a toolset or other significant element of production in your project. Having this limitation will force you to think outside the standard structure for creation and often lead to innovative methods of production.
So, the next time your boss asks you to build the Eiffel Tower ask yourself to build it using only popsicle sticks. It’ll be awesome.