Next time you find yourself struggling for inspiration, try this.

• Travel

Go out on the town and discover new things. Watch locals have conversation, observe the many personalities, cultures and social customs around you. Or travel outside your city, to places with different climates. Feel the ocean’s breeze near coastal islands or the rush of melting ice as it falls from the sky in Alaska. You’ll be surprised at how creativity seems to burst through you when you’re out of your normal element.

• Meet someone new

Sit down with a local stranger and strike up a conversation. Allow the mystery of other people’s lives and experiences inspire new ideas and topics.

• Ask questions

Ask yourself random “What if?” questions. What if I lived in a small city? What if I became an overnight millionaire? What if everyone always had to be honest? Take these topics and write 1,000 words on them.  

• Have fun

Thoughts and ideas most often come when you’re not focused on them. Take a break from the cubical and allow your mind to run free. If you want to write about interesting things, experience them.

• Save your ideas

Write down 5 ideas everyday for thirty days. At the end of the month, you’ll have 150 ideas. Some of them will be bad, some will be great. Either way, you’ve got 150 ideas for short stories, blog posts, book titles, characters etc.

• Get an opinion

Change the ending to a popular movie or novel. Why didn’t you like this ending? What would you have done differently?

• Remember your why

Sometimes you have to remind yourself of your initial reason for doing something in the first place. What is your why? Revisit the source of your inspiration and let it inspire you to create.