How do you court the muse? Innovators from Jeff Bezos to Victor Hugo to Jerry Seinfeld teach us embrace every bit of inspiration as soon as it arrives - by writing it down.

Design is an inherently optimistic field. We are, after all, trying to make the world a better place. But this optimism can lead to naïveté, and can actually hinder real progress, if left unchecked.

One of the most fantastic definitions I’ve ever heard comes from an anonymous seventh grader in Ohio: “Creativity is doing more than the first thing that comes to your mind.”

The rules for what smart people are supposed to do are often at odds with what those same smart people do to court a breakthrough. What gives?

Richard Feynman advised would-be geniuses, “You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind…” Here’s how breakthroughs get started.

Tina Fey reveals the technique she learned from Lorne Michaels the moment she needed it most: when deciding to she’d play Sarah Palin on SNL.

Pianists play the piano. Swimmers do laps. But what about innovators? What do they do? Innovators generate abundant options. Try this.

The fundamental responsibility of the innovator is to forge new connections. But how does one do that? Here are a few starting suggestions.

One of the most trajectory-shifting inputs for Phoebe Yao’s start-up came when she least expected it: not during a mind-blowing mentor meeting arranged by a VC, but in a chance encounter with a friend in the park. 

Some of the most creative people I know — from Lin Manuel-Miranda to Whitney Burks — share a common, creative secret: “obscene, ostentatious deadlines.”

A theme has emerged in my study of breakthrough thinkers: the role that parents play in shaping aspirations. Breakthrough parents plant bold dreams in their kids’ hearts!

In her legendary memoir on writing and life, Anne Lamott shares a simple but crucial tip for avoiding one of the worst feelings that can ever befall an individual in the midst of creative pursuit.

“Your thoughts construct patterns like scaffolding in your mind… In most cases, people get stuck in those patterns, just like grooves in a record, and they never get out of them…” —Steve Jobs

Lorraine Sarayeldin, Founder and CEO of PomPom Paddock, shares three favorite tricks to accelerate her ideation process by seeking inspiration from the world outside of the office.

David Kelley advises his students to make a practice that’s been taught at Stanford for decades. It’s the same thing Seinfeld does, and it’s a simple technique anyone wanting to do some breakthrough thinking can employ.

Kim Scott writes, “Slogans like ‘Move Fast & Break Things” are rallying cries for accelerators. But there’s a lot of mythology here…. If you really want to do something new, figure out a way to decelerate.”

The need to “think outside the box” is a common refrain.

But how does one do it?

It’s not nearly as complicated as you might think.

We see sick days as days we can’t work. As a few classic examples of transformation demonstrate, perhaps we should see them as a gift — an opportunity to receive a new vision of the future.

For breakthroughs to happen, we need fresh inputs to drive new connections. These connections aren’t just the function of new input, though; we’ve got to create space to realize new connections.

How can a leader create an environment that’s hostile to bias, and one that cultivates the emergence of new ideas? Trier Bryant provides a simple framework to answer this very question.