[the_local_host]

I find that boredom is death for creativity, but tedium is a goldmine. If I'm not doing anything, I don't think of anything. If I have a tedious but active chore, I need to bring a notepad along with me to capture all the ideas.

[yowlingcat]

I had a friend in college who was a writer. He intentionally spent a summer lettuce farming for this specific reason. He was pretty happy with the results creativity-wise.

[KineticLensman]

> If I have a tedious but active chore, I need to bring a notepad along with me to capture all the ideas

I find I'm quite mentally creative when doing tasks such as cutting the grass, which I don't find tedious, but instead require a sort of process-control mental activity. I actually enjoy cutting the grass for its physical side combined with the opportunity to get a good looking result from a task that takes about an hour. Hoovering doesn't inspire the same mental creativity.

[munk-a]

For me, at least, cutting the grass is a rather meditative activity where I'm sorta in nature - enjoying a relatively nice day (I avoid cutting grass when it's raining because why would you ever do that). None of my troubles are in view (unless the exterior needs work) so I can relax and enjoy it. Compare that to vacuuming where you're within your space but aware of the fact that things are messy - potentially needing to contend with children or pets to actually get vacuuming done, and frequently shifting furniture and thinking about how to finish off the task in the quickest manner.

To me mowing the lawn is an activity where my mind can disengage apart from watching for the occasional suicidal squirrel - while vacuuming is an activity where my brain is constantly on the watch for something being amiss and me accidentally chewing up an expensive cable or rug.

This all aligns closely with what I think the distinction is for tasks that allow you to be creative - something relatively straightforward that requires your hands to be busy but where you can mostly zone out. For this purpose I like eating "slow fruit" namely pomegranates and grapefruits - where I take both fruits apart laboriously by hand after peeling them (eat the grapefruit like an orange - but peel each slice). While I'm doing this my mind is free to do whatever and my hands continue with only minimal guidance.

[faeyanpiraat]

You can best figure out how you want your next vacation to go during you dayjob.

Go to the beach for a couple of days to get a groundbreaking work related idea.