Here are 5 top strategies to help your research, marketing and executive teams hurdle over those pesky creative blocks and keep your biotech brand growing strong.

As a biomedical researcher, marketer or CEO, the constant pressure to be innovative can sometimes leave you feeling stranded. Luckily, while in my favorite coffee bookstore Rock City/Hello Hello Books recently I found a great read that sparked this post. Here are our 5 Top Tips for hurdling over creative blocks, including a few more clever takeaways from Breakthrough by Alex Cornell.

Do Something Mindless, Repetitive and Productive
Clean off your bench. Paint a room. Mow the pasture. My dad was a corporate banker but his favorite boardroom chair was the seat of his tractor where I’m sure he came up with some of his best management ideas. Engaging your brain with a task that is altogether different, yet productive, helps melt away creative blockades. If it doesn’t work at least you’ll end up with a beautiful lawn.

Get Back to Nature
Whether it’s personal favorites like Drift Inn Beach or the top of Ragged Mountain, getting to a place where you are immersed in nature can free your brain from the confines of your problem and open new pathways for inspiration.

Sometimes it Really is All About the Journey
The freedom your mind craves can come from the journey itself. Consider a long car, subway or bike ride. The point is to get where your mind can run free and the environment takes over. Bring a notebook and let your mind wander in an organic fashion. It will eventually lead you to an answer. Blake Whitman, Creative Director at Vimeo in NYC says when he can’t drive hundreds of miles to Maine or Vermont he lays on his couch and closes his eyes or stares at a photo of Yosemite.

Keep a Spell Book
Take notes constantly. Save thoughts, quotes and anything inspiring. Like other great wizards, when you’re stuck go to your spell book, mash those thoughts together and extend them until they meet. – Aaron Koblin, digital media artist

Make Friends with a Genius
If your inspiration notebook is thin find a genius and collaborate. They usually stick together and shouldn’t be hard to find at your research institution. Steve Jobs was a huge proponent of collaboration – designing workspaces at Apple that fostered spontaneous brainstorming among different disciplines. If you’re in the marketing or communications venture to the other side in search of a scientific mind and vice versa. Combination is creation.

Why Not Try Coffee Right Before Bed?
“If all of this mind clearing business doesn’t work why not do the opposite. Take notes. Five percent might actually be pretty awesome.”  – Camen Rowland, Creative Director at Digital Kitchen

Get Clean.
For me, a long shower helps me think differently. It washes away my old thoughts and I feel renewed.  – Ji Lee, Facebook Creative Director

Check in to an Expensive Hotel
This only works if you are slightly frugal. Choose a boring location near an airport, bring elastic waisted pants, a stack of books you’ve already read and give the remote to the front desk. Write 10,000 words. Open one of the books to a random page and write down a sentence. Do this over and over until the thoughts are flowing. You’ll jumpstart your thinking by connecting bits of information and ideas. The reward? You’ll end up in a place that no one has ever visited. – Clare Dedere, Writer

Get a Cat
“I’ve lost count of the number of times my late cat Dillion helped me with creative block by distracting me and relaxing me as only cats can.” – Simon Page, Graphic Designer