Quite a while ago, we heard an interview with Bjorn Ulvaeus, one of the members of the band Abba. He described how he came up with the idea for the song, Take a Chance on Me. He said he was out jogging. The rhythm of his steps just kept screaming these words to him … Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance, chance, chance. Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance, chance, chance. His time away turned into a song! You just never know where a great idea is going to come from. Isn’t it funny how many times it will happen in a place that you’d least expect – like in the shower! —— —— Mix it up Sometimes it pays to vary your routine. If you always follow the same routine, you can get stale. The answer is simple – mix it up! Take a different way to work. Get to work later. Take lunch at a different time. Hang out with a different group of people. Whatever it may be, variety can spark new ideas. Get out Mixing it up is a great preventive measure. But what do you do when you’re already stuck? We’ve noticed that getting out is a great way to get unstuck. So try changing your scenery – go for a walk, move around – even if it’s just for a short time. We’ve found even just a few minutes away – from our computers, from our desks – sometimes leads us to the answer for which we were looking. Even Beethoven needed to do it As incredibly creative as Beethoven was, even he would get stuck every once in awhile. To get ahead, he would get out. In the book, Beethoven: The Man And The Artist As Revealed In His Own Words, authors Friedrich Kerst and Henry Edward Krehbiel quote the great composer: “You ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly, – I could seize them with my hands, – out in the open air; in the woods; while walking; in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; incited by moods, which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.” If Beethoven were alive today, maybe he would add “at the coffee shop” to his list!  Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes.  Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts Does Your Hobby Work For You? Too Much To Do? Take A Nap! (Image by arki) Less