Creativity often eludes us because we’re accustomed to certain norms. “We’re highly socialised and have fixed assumptions about what the world looks like,”  says Barry Staw, an organisational behaviorist at University of California,  Berkeley. “You have to try to envision another world.”

To do that, Staw suggests a series of exercises, all designed to help you  consider a wider range of options as you brainstorm

As you do each of these exercises, resist judging your ideas for as long as  possible. “A creative person is willing to suspend their caveats for a longer  period of time,” Staw says. The selection process can come down the road –  creativity requires freedom.

To flex your creative muscles, try these three easy exercises:

1. Re-imagine a familiar situation. To think more  creatively, consider alternatives to obvious choices. If you assume that a  restaurant will buy and prepare the ingredients for your meal, then make a list  of other options. Perhaps the customers bring their own ingredients for the chef  to prepare, or the restaurant provides ingredients that customers cook at their  tables. “Think of opposites or radical differences,” Staw says.

That exercise can lead to exciting new business ideas. For example, companies  like Bag, Borrow or Steal and Rent the Runway which both allow customers to rent high fashion goods, started as  alternatives to the assumption that we have to own our wardrobes.

2. Practice breaking the rules. “To learn how to act  creatively, you have to violate norms,” Staw says. Practice breaking the rules  with harmless violations that might be embarrassing or uncomfortable, like  asking to read a poem over the loudspeaker at the grocery store, or offering to  help the usher hand out programs at a play.

It’s okay if you get shot down — the point is to get comfortable trying  options that most people would rule out immediately. Staw calls these “lessons  in chutzpah” because they help you gather the nerve to take creative risks. Just  thinking of rules to bend promotes creativity because you force your brain out  of its comfort zone.

You can also look for ways that others are breaking norms. For example, Staw’s son discovered that teenage girls like mismatched socks, so he created LittleMissMatched, a colorful teen clothing line.

3. Make a list of things that bother you. As you go about  your day, Staw suggests creating a “bug list,” or a list of annoyances. You  might list slow internet or noisy air conditioner units. “Usually, if something  has bothered you, that means there’s a hole in the service,” Staw says.

By thinking of possible solutions, you may stumble on a product opportunity.  For example, one frustrated inventor created a stemware tether to stop wine glasses from chipping in the  dishwasher.