Business gets ever quicker and there’s never a time now when we aren’t connected and “on-call”. It used to be that if you were on a train or car journey, there was valuable down-time where you could ruminate on life and free your mind to come up with new ideas.

It’s good to keep busy – right? Mobiles and wi-fi are a boon to productivity – yes? Well certainly they are, but I’ve noticed that many of my more original ideas have been coming when I’m away from the connected world.

In my case it’s when I’m out running. There’s something about the comatose state that I enter after the 3rd mile that allows my subconscious to work on problems and ideas to pop into my head.

People used to say that ideas came to them in the bath and it’s well known that Archimedes ran naked down the road shouting Eureka (I’ve got it!) after he had his big idea when in the bath. But who’s got time for baths now days in a world of much speedier showers.

It takes willpower to step away from your desk, put the phone on answer and take half-an-hour to yourself, doing nothing obviously to do with the business and allow a bit of time to free up your mind. That’s when the good ideas come.

Okay you may not want to go for a run, but a walk or other activity, that gives a break and relaxes the brain to be creative is time well spent. I don’t think it can be an activity that is imposing its own demands on the brain, such as a competitive game, or watching a movie. It has to allow an almost meditative feel.

This is just my observation, but with so many demands on our time, scheduling regular opportunities to be creative has to be built into your week. Otherwise it just won’t happen. Making it a regular activity, rather than when (if) you have a chance, means it will be more likely to take place.

That’s the beauty of going for a run; it’s a regular time commitment. Going for a walk or the gym a couple times a week can serve the same purpose, if you schedule it in. It’s much more difficult to sit at your desk and say: “I’m now going to switch off for a while to be creative”.

I’m sure there are loads of other ways of getting those idea juices flowing and you need to find the one that works for you.