10 Unexpected Things World-Renowned Creatives Did to Generate Brilliant Ideas

When it comes to generating creative ideas for business or work, people can draw inspiration from unusual places and routines. Dr. Seuss, renowned children's books author, wore lots of crazy hats which he said sparked his creativity and helped him overcome writer’s block.  

Igor Stravinksy, the famous, Grammy Award-winning, Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor did headstands to “clear his brain” and “rest his head.” French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac, on the other side, drank up to 50 cups of coffee each day to stimulate his writing. Balzac said the effects of coffee helped to “spark shooting all the way to the brain,” causing ideas to quick-march to his brain.

Interestingly, these weird habits aren’t even the strangest routines that some of the world’s top minds utilized to come up with brilliant ideas. Steve Jobs reportedly bathed his feet in toilet water to reduce stress levels, while Nakamatsu Yoshiro dove underwater and stayed there until he got a flash of genius.

Weird as these behaviors may be, they seem to have worked for these highly creative minds. The quirky routines probably won’t work for you as well, but they indicate that you are not helpless when you hit a creative snag and ideas don’t seem to flow as smoothly or effortlessly as you would like.

When ideas run out and your muse seems to have disappeared, you don’t have to wait and wait for the creative mojo to come back for you to start creating again. Sometimes it may be necessary to take drastic steps or even weird measures such as these mentioned here to force ideas to come.

As Stephen King says, “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

Unusual Ways Top Creatives Got Inspiration – Infographic

Business Backer created a neat inforgraphic that highlights nine strange routines top creative minds used to stimulate creative ideas.

A bonus example to round up 10 curious habits of influential artists, thinkers, and entrepreneurs is German poet Friedrich Schiller who stored rotting apples in his desk drawer for their “inspiring” scent. Apparently, this was Schiller’s productivity secret for regaining focus and powering his creativity.

Check out Business Backer’s full infographic below to learn more about some of the quirky ways that leading creative minds got their ideas.