I’m not trying to be bossy, but you really need a vacation.

According to Psychology Today, your brain doesn’t come up with killer new ideas unless you give it a break. Apparently when you keep working and working and working on something, your brain keeps trying to solve the problem the same old way. That’s not innovation. But if you give your brain a breather and think about something else for a while (like, perhaps, how to not die while you drive the Road of Death), those boring old solutions fall away, opening the door for fresh ideas.

Here’s something else cool I learned about the brain: Ever notice that, right before you think of something completely awesome, there’s this sort of blank moment where everything freezes, and then — bam! — the best idea in the world pops into your mind? That’s because your brain had to control-alt-delete all of the useless old ideas for a second to let that new one squeeze through.