There are days when you just don’t feel creative enough and are not able to generate the desired creative output. These days can be filled with anxiety, uneasiness, and impatience as you wait for creativity to strike but it doesn’t. This is not exclusive to writers but also implies to every human being because there’s creativity in every aspect of life. Even creating a new system for filling documents requires innovation and creativity. So every human is capable of experiencing these blocks be it a designer or an administrator. These can lead to frustration and make you spiral further on as you keep wallowing in this feeling of dread and underproductivity, as in a workplace you are obliged to produce an output but you can’t do that because you can’t think.
Reasons
There can be numerous reasons for the occurrence of this phenomenon but these are our top picks.
Overwhelming environment – An environment that is chaotic and overstimulating can be a major contributor to an unproductive mind. It acts like a maze where you start in one direction and are forced to change routes again and again that ultimately takes you farther away than your goal. An overwhelming environment can be created by the lack of a structured workplace and uncertainty in roles. Another contributing factor is hostility among peers. A very unhealthy practice in which instead of supporting each other colleagues create a toxic culture of competition. This can also lead to low motivation to work and burden your creativity.
Unorganized thoughts – When your brain is running like a bullet train with thoughts and ideas you tend to miss out on great ones just trying to catch up with the speed. Sometimes you may already have a lot on your plate and your thoughts can be interrupted causing you to lose your train of thought. Compartmentalizing is the key in such situations. Allot time slots if you work with multiple clients or different groups of people, so at one point in time you can dedicatedly focus on the task at hand.
Constant pressure – This point is exclusively a PSA for managers as a culture of constant deadlines and nagging may seem to get you results at times but it absolutely will not be able to get you the desired creativity. To think of something a person needs to have the space and environment that nurtures ideas and not a clock hanging on top of their head. Sure, pressure does help at times but a balance between both is crucial for the best results.
Lack of sleep and rest – Sleep arguably plays the most important role when it comes to new thoughts and ideas. There’s a reason why most million dollar ideas are shower thoughts, it’s because the brain is at its sharpest after a good night’s rest. Night owls may argue that they do their best work at night but that’s because they crave the calmness of the night not because they don’t need sleep and rest.
Solutions for your creative blocks
Music – The biggest mood changer with the power of uniting and dividing the entire world, this tool is the most helpful when it comes to restarting your brain and shifting your entire mood. It consumes your mind engulfing you in the music that is playing while your thoughts take a back seat. When you get lost in the power of music you immerse yourself in the beats and lyrics of a song, this helps you clear your mind and gives way for new thoughts and ideas. It also acts as white noise reducing the clutter in your brain as it does not leave space for new thoughts to enter, a helpful trick for people with anxiety.
Taking a break – You may have 100 things on your mind, work, health, personal life and a thousand client emails pending to answer but when you are overburdened regardless of how much ever you try you will not be able to access your creative side unless you take a second to breathe and while you’re at it listen to a song, have a cup of tea/coffee but tiny breaks are essential to break the monotony of the day and articulate your thoughts to allow for more ideas.
Inspiration – If you’re not inspired, you simply won’t be able to be creative. That’s just the way it is. There’s no other way to it, you may be able to present some mediocre ideas without it based on your years of experience but greatness can only be inspired. Inspiration can strike in any form, you may be sitting under a tree when an apple falls on your head and you discover gravity. There is no method to this chaos but when it strikes the results are beautiful. Take inspiration from the world that surrounds you, in the trees, flowers, books songs, nature and art all around you available at your fingertips.
Communication – This is one of the most essential tips in the trade, if ever you don’t feel creative enough, you need to ensure that you communicate this in the most productive way possible as it is a very human thing and allows people around you to either help you or give you a reasonable amount of time to get over it. Communication is the key to fostering better workplace relationships, sounds like a very overused line, right? But it truly is the only way as we can’t read each other’s mind and the only way for someone to know what’s going on with you is when you say it.
Conclusion
There’s creativity in everything it’s all around you. It’s in the interfaces we use in our everyday lives in apps, it’s in the maps of local transportation, in the art we see, and in absolutely every aspect of our lives. It’s important to respect and remember that and give each other the space and time to nurture our habits and become our most creative selves. So take some time every day to connect with yourself and your thoughts and let the creativity flow.