Seven creativity-boosting practices with real evidence.

1. Walk for 20 minutes before creative work. Stanford 2014 study: ~60% increase in divergent thinking.
2. Constrain deliberately. Limits force novelty; freedom often produces paralysis.
3. Read outside your field. Cross-pollination is where original ideas come from.
4. Sleep on problems. Incubation during sleep produces insights no amount of waking focus can force.
5. Capture always. Best ideas arrive when you're not working; lose them to "I'll remember" at your peril.
6. Alternate focused and diffuse modes. 90 minutes of intense focus, 20 minutes of wandering. Both are creative modes.
7. Have one non-screen hobby. Craft, music, sport. The hands-on modality cross-trains the idea-generation mind.