The two most frightening words in the creative professional’s vocabulary are most likely “creative block”. If you’re a graphic designer, writer or artist of any sort, you’ve almost surely been in the depths of that frightening world, where nothing works and ideas (unfortunately) do not grow on trees.
But I’ve come to offer you a hand, in the form of some friendly advice from another creative professional who has been in that position more than enough times. My hope is that at least one of these steps will work for you and get your creative juices flowing, so you can continue on with your day productively.
Step 1: Get out while you can!
The second you start sensing a creative block coming on, my advice to you (if possible) is to get the hell out of your office! Because I work from my home office, this usually means getting out of the apartment and either going for a run (personal favorite, gets ideas flowing 99% of the time), getting some fresh air, taking a shower, or even just getting up and walking around for a bit. The point is to do anything that lets you relax for a moment and get your mind off of what you’re doing, even for just a few minutes. This might feel like you’re wasting time, but in actuality getting mad and spinning your wheels is doing nothing but wasting time. Another good idea is to get a snack and/or some sort of drink to re-fuel and re-energize.
Step 2: No pressure
After you’ve relaxed and re-fueled, it’s time to get focused. Even if you’re on a tight deadline and need to wrap your project up by yesterday, worrying and putting pressure on yourself isn’t going to get it done any faster. Just relax and remember, you’re in the driver’s seat.
Step 3: Stay organized and comfortable
Chances are you’re hitting your creative blocks mid-project, but it’s never too late to get organized and keep things simple. After I’ve made my way through the first two steps, I usually like to clean my workspace and get comfortable. Even if you’re not aware of it, desk-clutter can surely translate directly to mind-clutter. Getting your tools together, cleaning up your files, papers, and even changing into comfortable attire can really make a difference when you’re having a hard time getting into a flow.
Step 4: Build on simplicity, don’t get ahead of yourself
Regardless of where you are in your project, I’ve found keeping things simple as possible is always a good habit to get into. Keeping things simple throughout a project can really help the flow of a project, because you don’t seem to get caught up on ideas as often. You will notice if you are keeping things simplistic, you’ll have more ideas in the end and you’ll have a better plan of attack.
Step 5: Don’t get too creative
That might sound a little weird to you, but getting too creative is another big contributor to creative block. Our creativity will naturally blossom with experience, and although it is smart to push ourselves, it’s not always good to expand yourself too far beyond your boundaries. Similar to Step 4, the idea behind not getting too creative is to do what you know how to do and do it well. There will be time to learn new things and expand even more, but when you’re going through a creative block is not the time to push yourself too far. This is also an easy time to start panicking and looking around for inspiration, but I recommend not going down that road, because when you’re not in a creative mindset, that just adds to the feeling of being lost and idea-less.
Step 6: Get feedback
If you’re still not feeling the creative vibes, it’s best to bounce ideas off of your friends, family or best of all, other Freelancers or artists. This can really help get an outside perspective on the project and gives you ideas that you would’ve never thought about. You have to be careful not to rip off other’s ideas if they aren’t yours, but it usually sprouts new ideas of your own and allows you to visualize a new approach to the project.
In conclusion
If these steps haven’t worked for you, I would then recommend to try Step 1 (“Get out while you can!”) again. The main focus on killing creative block is to take a big step back, relax and then figure out your plan of attack. Obviously this is my own pattern that I follow when I sense an oncoming block, but I’m confident this will work for just about any other creative professional battling with block.
Great article. All the points made were excellent.
I will have to keep this in mind as I run into this a lot with my head being all over the place all the time. It’s starting to cool down some so I’ll be able to go outside with out dying.
I need to get better at catching the early warning phases and not wait until total burn out to realize I need to step away for a while.
Thanks Kevin. Does it actually cool down in Arizona? I wasn’t aware of that haha. I’m glad the article helped out.
because when you’re not in a creative mindset, that just adds to the feeling of being lost and idea-less
I agree with this statement 100% and I have found that when indeed I do take breaks I am able to produce better results and get more creative then when I just try to get creative… overall good article, and a lovely theme you’ve got here, love the grid and sketchy look!