I get a lot of ideas about anything and everything while in my craft room -- something about working with my hands and tapping into that part of my brain mentally frees me up. My boss and I have been going away to a nearby mountain retreat (Mohonk Mountain House) every 6 months or so, getting massages, then covering the walls of a room with flip chart paper and writing down everything we can think of that we want to do, be, fix, or improve. When I'm writing, I tend to get a lot of ideas in places where I can be comfortable and people-watch, like Starbucks. But mostly, I get ideas in the car, while running, or in the bathtub. :)

What prevents me from getting ideas? Stress. A cluttered house. Being around negative, energy-draining people.

Walking in nature.

The bathroom. :)

I get a lot of my ideas in bed...regardless of what I am doing...yes, regardless.

This is totally perverse but I honestly seem to come up with ideas when I do not have any devices available to record them in their pristine state. Its one of the reasons why I started to carry my moleskine everywhere.It does seem to be a rather bizarre psychological operation that goes on, though: must be something to do with self-censorship and avoiding-blame or something.

My wife insists that she gets her best ideas in the shower.

You know, I think Einstein said he got his best ideas in the shower, or shaving, or something like that.

Maybe I'm wierd, but I seem to get my best ideas either during meetings/conferences (about which the ideas never seem to relate) or on airplanes.

Mike.

Dude. Not weird at all. I tend to do my best people/strategy thinking on planes. I'll get on, take a 15-minute snooze, then fire up the laptop and work away. Some of my best ideas regarding managing of my team, advising my boss, or just general work processes have come this way. Must be the cabin pressurization. ;)

I tend to get ideas when sitting in crowds, for example a university union. I spend a lot of time speaking at colleges. I spend an even greater time sitting in there union just feeling the movement of people past me. It allows something to click in my head, be it a stimulation pattern or something. In college I did the majority of my writing in the union, and the majority of my reading in a chair in the library.

Now I do the majority of my writing in coffee shops, or unioins. The thing is harder now as I like to include a bigger workspace to spread out in ,and let my ideas be visual triggers for other ideas.

I like to decompress and write at the end of a day at my desk in my room, or hotel room desks work fine.

I travel a lot, so a desk is a desk.