Dreams are a good tool to think out solutions to problems on which you have been working.  Many times, I have thought of a new idea in a dream, and when I woke up it was the perfect answer.

But then I spent a huge amount of time thinking in a non-linear fashion. For people not used to that because of their work, it is harder to use this path to be creative. The good news is there is one way that can work for anyone like that. Just before you go to sleep, write down what you want to mull over in your dreams and keep it by the bed. If you wake up in the middle of the night, reread your note to yourself and go back to sleep. When we are in the dream-wake state, it is sometimes hard to remember what you were going to work on, so that is why you want it by the bed in black and white. Also, if you get a good idea, write it down when you get it and look at it in the morning instead of just trying to remember.  On more than one occasion, I have written down really big ideas in the middle of the night and then I try them out. That is how the man who invented the sewing machine got his idea of how to thread the needle to make it work.  It was in a dream.