Have you ever emerged from the shower with an amazing solution for a problem you’d been stuck on? It seems like magical forces might be at play, but in reality, science backs up why taking a moment of pause often leads to problem-solving breakthroughs. The answer lies in allowing your mind enough space to create. In today’s over-booked world of constant information influx, your brain is too saturated to allow creative problem solving that fuels entrepreneurial business longevity.

But how can you enlist these powers without having to leave meetings to take a quick shower every time you’re noodling a problem?

Desaturating the brain to boost creative space doesn’t have to be complicated. Try these lifestyle hacks to boost your creativity immediately.

Generate white noise

White noise is sound that contains an equal proportion of all hearing frequencies. It alters our attention to minimize unnecessary distraction. Drowning out unnecessary distraction frees brain space for natural creativity to emerge. Generating white noise is easy. You can turn on a fan, use a free white noise app, or play a white noise YouTube video. Some variations such as showers, rain, wind, thunder, and waterfall sounds can work too.

Increase sleep efficiency

How’s your problem-solving capability after pulling an all-nighter? Tired brains cannot think, let alone make space for anything but the urgent whack-a-mole tasks at hand. But as a busy entrepreneur, you may not have time to sleep more. If quantity is not an option, leverage efficiency. Easy ways to improve sleep efficiency include:

• Set a wind-down routine an hour before bed
• Brain dump everything in your mind into a journal five minutes before bed
• Take a five-minute hot or cold shower before bed
• Take five minutes to stretch or foam roll before bed
• Have a bedtime snack that includes foods high in tryptophan or magnesium
• Aroma therapy with calming scents such as lilac

Change your environment

Take a look around your office. Like, right now. Is it cluttered with paperwork? Is there anything blocking natural light? Is it an obstacle course to make it from your door to your desk? If so, it might be time to declutter, rearrange, and optimize your space for productivity and ease. Spatial arrangement, organization, color, lights, and sounds all have a continuous subconscious impact.

If your thoughts feel blocked, change the environment. Spend a day decluttering; change your office decorations every quarter; try doing work somewhere outside of your routine work spaces; add a real or fake plant; use wall decals to add a temporary splash of color. Tiny changes have profound effects.

Create three types of playlists

Music is one of the only mediums that impacts all parts of the brain. You can create playlists that harness the power of music to generate creativity. Here are three essential playlists to curate:

• The Energy Generator. Load this one with your favorite feel-good hits, guilty pleasures, and nostalgic bangers. When energy wanes, pump this one up and don’t stop yourself from moving to the beat.
• The Focus Tool. Depending on how you work while music is playing, this one can be curated to how you focus best. For some, they work well to music with vocals or steady beats; for others, you might prefer instrumental versions. Personally, we love the chill hum of Lo-Fi while working.
• The Peace Maker. Use this one when too many thoughts are cluttering your head and you’re craving calm. You might enjoy songs from your favorite artists that you’ve heard a million times on this one. Nothing unpredictable, you’ll know exactly what to expect.

Make time for art

When you’re facing a problem that feels insurmountable, try taking a break at an art table. Creating art stimulates new areas of the brain, and divulges novel relationships and perspectives that carry over into functional creativity. You don’t have to be an artist. Coloring, drawing, doing puzzles, playing with building blocks, dancing, singing, and playing music all work. This is something you can easily and cost effectively curate yourself. Simply stock your desk with a few supplies that require minimal effort to use. Next time your creative brain feels stuck, take a five-minute art break.

Play with movement

Think back to your pre-school days. How did you learn? How did you solve problems? How did you discover new solutions and ways to interact with your environment? The answer is moving and playing. Moving and playing literally builds new connections between the neurons in your brain, which allows creative problem solving to emerge.

As adults, we often forget how to play—and it doesn’t need to involve making the trek to the McDonald’s Play Place. Try one of these ideas for just five minutes the next time you’re mulling a problem, then see how much creative energy flows when you return to your work:

1. Dribble a tennis ball on your hand
2. Play balloon volleyball with the wall
3. Follow along with five minutes of a random yoga or dance workout video
4. Kick a ball around in the yard
5. See how many different ways you can travel across your living room (i.e. skip, crab walk, roll, walk backwards, army crawl, bear crawl)