Making and finding time to brainstorm and problem solve is hard because they are hours that you really can’t plan for. Sometimes an idea or solution will strike you right away and other times it comes to you after days of hard focus and experimenting. I tend to work on a pretty tight schedule and plan projects with the hope that nothing is going to go wrong. I basically cross my fingers and hope that new and original ideas are just going to rain down on me. When I worked at Daily Planet ltd. we usually had time to explore or look at the problem. That’s one of the luxuries of having a team of people working with you. Projects can be passed around if someone needs extra time to solve something. But as a solo entrepreneur you are often under the gun, stressed and have a very short timeline for delivery. When something doesn’t happen right or isn’t working out it feels like the whole project can fall into a tailspin. And that mess up can cause a chain reaction of throwing off timing for many of the other projects that are in the pipeline as well. From a few hard lessons and sleepless nights I know now that its important to build a couple extra days into projects just for this reason. And if something doesn’t go wrong I have extra time to make the project even better or just take the time to breathe. I also found that I do my best brainstorming when I’m off on a bike ride. It works out best when there is no music playing and it’s just you, the street and the problem. Some people turn to meditation; something I wish I had the the patience for. But whatever your technique is for solving problems you need to make sure you give yourself time to let it happen. You can’t go from work, to dealing with the family, then sleep and right back to work and expect yourself to figure out a solution for every problem.