How To Break Through A Creative Block

The Creative Process

Working through a creative block is a real bummer for anyone, especially for those of us who lead outwardly creative lives. We rely on a constant stream of inspiration to allow us to connect with our audiences in just the right way.

When you experience a creative block, it can feel like dull, stagnant suffocation. It’s as if there’s something just on the other side of the wall begging for you to let it out.

Even worse, deadline or project goals often lurk impatiently on the horizon.

Whether you create as a hobby or for a living, there’s no denying how exhausting the creative process can be at times. It’s a constant, jagged ebb-and-flow of ideas, outlines, blank pages, and masterpieces.

A creative project can begin at the end, end at the beginning, or take shape halfway through. It can follow your plans or show you a new design all its own. However your creative process flows, it will never again flow in exactly the same way.

The Creative Block

Creativity, for many of us, becomes less glamorous and more intoxicating as we muddle through it. We admire the end results of the work of other artists. We have that appreciation because we understand the intricate, painstaking process that someone went through to breathe life into their vision.

Creation, above all, is work, and we must treat it like such.

So, when a creative block lumbers up behind you, don’t get discouraged. If you can’t shake free from it, you might have to accept that it’s there and sit with it. 

Creative blocks hope that you’ll eventually give up on your work. That you’ll embrace “I’m just not inspired enough” or “I guess this wasn’t meant to be” or other failure mindsets. 

Creative blocks feel like a powerful force, and they don’t like losing control. Luckily, there are some tricks you can employ to breathe life back into your creative side!

6 Tricks to Break Through a Creative Block

1. Banish Distractions And Embrace Boredom

As dwellers of the developed world, we are afforded the luxury of distraction nearly everywhere we go.

Unfortunately, mindless distractions are often detrimental to creativity. They trick us into feeling busy or entertained or fulfilled. In reality, we are choosing to give these distractions the stage – at creativity’s expense.

To encourage flow, strip it all away (phones, laptops, even people). Welcome boredom. Remember how often you’d feel bored as a child in the pre-tech-crazed age? And do you remember what great creations would come of that boredom?

Give yourself time to live in your head, unearth old ideas and formulate new ones.  Recite a few creative mantras if you need a boost of confidence during your downtime.

2. Engage With Something Profoundly Simple

Isn’t it true that the simplest of things are frequently the most moving?

The right light can set a mood and ambiance that fosters creativity. If you’ve ever sat in front of a hissing campfire, you’ve experienced its certain meditative trance.

This meditation only visits when we surrender to what is right in front of us.

Reinvigorate the fizzling coals of your creativity by losing yourself in the simplicity around you. Inspect the design of a jacket seam by seam, meditate on the bursts of color in your favorite painting, or lie under a rustling tree.

3. Break Out Of Your Usual Medium

It’s easy to fall prey to a creative block when we’re doing the same thing day after day. In fact, that is the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

You can trick your brain into falling down a new creative rabbit hole by mixing up what medium you use to express that energy.

For instance, if writing is your go-to craft, sit down and sketch. The pressure disappears when you’re not worried about producing something great and focusing on having fun.

When you remove the constraints and expectations you’ve set up around your creativity, you unleash it to flow. Flow is creativity’s most optimized state.

4. Put Creation Before Consumption

Most creators have to fight to break this habit. 

You can keep a creative block from becoming stronger by protecting your sacred energy. This means you’re not going to go looking at what everyone else is making before you decide what you’re going to make.

You’re not going to adjust your standards, ideas, or deepest ambitions based on the bars other people are setting.

Declare that your need to create is greater than your impulse to do others the favor of consuming what they have created. When you consume before you create you’re inviting self-doubt, comparison, and perfectionism to join the party – no fun!

5. Play With Your Senses

Creation is a mind–body–spirit experience; no part of us exists in isolation when we’re in full flow. Every thought, feeling, and physical sensation works together to bring inspiration to life.

When you’re feeling trapped and unable to express yourself, you can implore a little help from your senses.

Touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste are certainly all connected. When you manipulate the abilities of one, you heighten tour experience of the others.

Encourage that mind-body-spirit connection by experimenting with your senses. Invigorate your workspace with new scents.

Surround yourself with textured blankets or throws in color palettes other than what you usually prefer. Eat something intoxicating and spicy before you start a new project. Play with unconventional lighting, and explore playlists that take you to another place and time. Connect with your true spiritual essence.

6. Dedicate A Disaster-Piece To The Creative Block

When all else fails, throw caution to the wind. 

If it feels like your creative block is here to stay, you might as well pay homage to it with something terrible. Do all of the things you might usually shy away from, second-guess, or throw on the cutting room floor. Don’t plan on showing this work to a soul.

Show your creative blocks just how awful they are with an equally awful tribute. In other words, acknowledge that they’re kind of ruining your flow and then make something despite that.

Oh, the thrill of carelessness, imperfection, and rebellion! (Spoiler: this tribute process has been known to help creators produce some of their best work).  

Storing these six tricks in your arsenal of defense will help you stay in control of your creative process. You’ll no longer have to surrender to creative blocks.

Creativity exists within each of us indefinitely, regardless of the boundaries standing in its way. It’s up to you to give yours the space it needs to thrive!