In 2008, John Cleese gave a keynote at the Creativity World Forum. Here are a summary of his points:

• Sleeping on a problem “works”.
• Your unconscious keeps working on problems even after you’ve completed the task.
• Avoid interruptions during creative thinking. Interruptions cause you to lose track of thoughts which take the slower creative mind a lot of time to regain.
• Get in the mood to be creative. Make an oasis from normal life.
• “Most people who have no idea of what they’re doing, have absolutely no idea that they have no idea what they’re doing.” Blind spots prevent us from improving ourselves.