Roadblocks, writer’s block, painter’s block, it can be called whatever. It has many names, but in the end, it seems that there has been a lid momentarily put on your creativity, but that doesn’t mean you can stop creating!
Today, we’re going to remove that roadblock and teach you how to be creative even when you hit a roadblock.
Every creative person has experienced this: they have this idea– this brilliant and beautiful and thrilling idea– that they couldn’t wait to get started on.
After that initial moment of inspiration hits, they dedicate every moment they can spare to turning this idea into a reality. They spend all hours of their day thinking about this day. It’s always in the back of their mind.
However, some time down the road, maybe a month or more, they hit a snag. A roadblock that’s locking up all their creativity. Then they slowly start spending less time on this idea until that enthusiasm fades away.
All those hours spent pouring into the brilliant idea have gone to waste– but maybe not. Here are some ways you can be creative when you hit a roadblock.
The War of Art
by Steven Pressfield
⏱ 14 minutes reading time
🎧 Audio version available
Eliminate Distraction
When you hit that creative roadblock, think about the external reasons that may be happening instead of internal. Maybe it’s not you, but your surroundings. So first, try to resume creating by changing your surroundings.
You can go to being creative and pumping out beautiful art and books by eliminating distractions. Most of the time, your brain may be working overtime to keep that imagination running, but it can’t handle all the distractions around you.
“Context switching” doesn’t just apply to computers. While it allows multiple processes to share a single central processing unit and is an essential feature of a multitasking operating system, it doesn’t work that way for us humans.
Context switching ends up being a dramatic loss to your train of thought and dramatically affects your creativity and productivity. You can have an email notification pop up and lose as much as 15 minutes of precious time to get back into that same flow.
When you keep interrupting the time you’re supposed to be creative, you’re robbing that thing of your direct attention.
Even something as a TV blaring in the background can come in the way of tapping into that part of your brain where creativity stems from. Now, how to overcome this? Shut off your phone, close the TV, turn on something soothing background music if that’s your thing, and work in relative silence.
Go Back to Basics
A creative roadblock can sometimes only be fought with something more significant—inspiration from another source. Whenever you feel stuck, go on an adventure– aka, go to the library, the bookstore, or even just a magazine rack.
First of all, libraries are a great source of creative and visual works that will dust the metaphorical cobwebs off those creative gears and get the wheels turning again. Take an extra step and make photocopies or take pictures of whatever strikes your interest and add it to your inspiration file.
Maybe you’ll see something that sparks something that leads to getting back into a creative mode.
The Purge
If everything else fails and you cannot find that spark anywhere else, purging is the answer. Purging, which is a dramatic word for organizing and cleaning your workspace, is the next best thing.
So clean out those supplies, test all the extra dusty pens, get rid of those that don’t have any ink, sift through materials, and organize your space. You’ll remember that excitement you had when you first started down this creative road.
And hey, maybe you’ll remember all the ideas you never finished, or some new ideas may even spark.
Do Things Backwards
Leonardo Da Vinci is the one to invent this technique. He wrote it backward from right to left whenever he wrote something that wasn’t meant for someone else.
This method may shock your creativity enough to get it back running. Write from right to left, brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand, and find a way to break out of the normal routine that’s stifling you.
The Last Option is to Let it Go
Make like Elsa and let it go. This may seem like it’s counter-intuitive, but this is a way to trick yourself.
Every creative person has gone through this, and they have gotten stuck at one point. But then, suddenly, in the middle of the day, in the middle of watching a movie, they got that “Eureka!” moment where they suddenly figured out the answer or the next step.
That wonderful, euphoric “Eureka!” moment didn’t just come out of nowhere. When you stopped actively stressing about getting over that creative block, your subconscious mind took over. So take a step back, do something else that you enjoy, and you’ll find yourself working it out later.
Just Take a Break
You can be creative when you hit a roadblock, but what’s holding you back may just be that you need a break. After taking that much-needed break, you can go back to painting canvases, writing novels, and making marketing strategies all you want.
Whenever you feel particularly uninspired, go for a calming walk, talk to someone else about what they’re working on, make a coffee. Just take your mind off things for a moment. If you don’t have a deadline, you can afford to leave something for a day, then come back with a clear mind and a full reservoir of creative ideas waiting to be animated.
Or you can just take a break from the particular project that’s not progressing and move on to something else until you feel inspired again.
Make an Inspiration Board
Inspiration boards are the unsung hero of getting back into the flow of things. And they’re way underutilized.
You don’t have to put up a board on the wall and stick pictures cut from magazines, but something as simple as Pinterest helps place all the ideas, pictures, and articles you like in one convenient, pretty, and aesthetically-pleasing place.
Quotes, photography– anything can inspire you to be creative again.
Be Around Creative People
You can be creative when you hit a roadblock by being around other creative people. Once you see how they’re thriving, ideas will flow into your head again. Visit a local cafe or a coworking space.
And if you’re an artistic type, visit an art gallery or take a trip to your favorite museum. What’s important is that you talk to people. And who knows? Maybe their advice will help you more than you think.
Surround yourself with people who inspire you, collaborate with them, or even venture into fields and see where they draw inspiration from.
Other artists in different genres than yours can bring an invaluable and unique perspective.
Figure Out What’s Really Behind Your Roadblock
More often than not, roadblocks are the results of an issue that we can’t put our finger on at the moment. And the frustration from not having a creative outlet leads to you being more stagnant in your process.
Stop and think about why you have this block. Are you afraid of the outcome? Are you exhausted? Do you have impossibly high standards that are making you too hesitant to even start? Is there a lack of structure that you don’t know how to start? The fear of not being good enough? Is it something in your personal life
Identify the root of the problem, why you feel stuck. Because you do have enough talent, you may be just burnout.
You do have the determination for it, but you may not have enough time.
When the road gets bumpy, you can choose to stay stagnate, or you can choose to recognize this adversity as an opportunity.
Be Confident
Lastly, we have to be confident in your conclusion. When you try to create something with the mindset that someone else will read it, that someone else is going to criticize it, perfectionism may halt your progress altogether.
But you can take a stand against that.
Get behind that conclusion and with gusto. Because you know what? The clearer your decision is, the easier you can test it, the easier it is to learn from it and move in.
Ben Grossman-Kahn, who talks about the “creative confidence” principle, says that it’s “having the freedom and courage to fail or take creative risks and the knowledge that all of the ideas you create have value.”
This brilliant confidence can extend throughout the entire creative process.
When you hit a roadblock, stumble upon a problem, approach this setback with the confidence that you will solve them and that you’ll benefit from learning something new in the process.
Are you ready to tackle that roadblock now?
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