Courtesy of Lifehacker.com, lots of great, practical advice for breaking through your blocks and getting innovative, including:
When you're facing a difficult problem—try to create a number of different answers. This will help you solve it more quickly, and in a more creative way. Before you start a project or a part of it, draft 5-6 different alternatives. [...] I make sure to prepare a list of all the alternatives before starting so I won't get fixated. Now, let's make things more interesting—try to create a range within your alternatives - the first one should be the most standard one you can imagine, with the last one raising an eyebrow or two. Even if you end up choosing alternatives that are closer to the standard than to the extreme, after experimenting with quirky ideas, your ‘standard' version will probably also change, and come more to life.
and
Try taking an existing or a half baked project and rethink it in someone else's shoes. If it's a design project— how would it look like if it was designed by Google or maybe even by Starbucks? If it's something you write—how would a certain writer or maybe a colleague sitting across the room would write it? You'll soon find out that while your designs or text will be very far removed from your chosen style, bringing in a style constraint into the equation will spark your creative magic.
Read the rest here!