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To make your best work, you need to be in a certain state of mind, feeling inspired, focused, and in the zone. So it’s especially frustrating when you’re going along, trying to be how to overcome creative block, and all of a sudden nothing feels right. You’re having trouble getting ideas.
When your job depends on being creative, creative block is the last thing you need. You can do everything right at the beginning of a project to set yourself up for success, but that doesn’t mean you won’t hit The Dreaded Block. But don’t fret, dear designer, read on! Here are nine of the best ideas from professional designers and well-known artists on how to overcome creative block
How to overcome creative block
Try something completely new or outside of your comfort zone
When we’re put in new situations, our creativity often grows. You don’t have to do something big. Since Covid has made our worlds smaller, even trying a new medium, format, or subject can help you find joy in places you wouldn’t expect.
Talk with other artists
Get to know more people. Conversations always spark ideas, and turning to your community can help you feel energized again because you know you’re not alone. I went to #CreativeBlock to get ideas from creative people who talked about how they overcame creative blocks. Along the way, I met talented artists and made new friends.
Don’t be afraid to fail
If perfectionism is stopping you from making things, you need to get over your fear of failing. Designer Jordan Sigmund from Hox Design Co. is right when he says, “I’m trying to teach myself to be okay with the fact that creative work will always be a work in progress. It’s a mountain with no top, and it’s okay to let yourself breathe.”
Just start
Don’t wait for ideas to come to you. Start doing something, and you’ll often find that just jumping in will get you somewhere. Melanie Brauner is a metalsmith, papermaker, and artist. In this interesting Instagram video, she talks about a good piece of advice she got from her grandfather, who was also an artist.
He said, “The Muse doesn’t exist, and there is no such thing as “inspiration.” Artists who wait to go to the studio until they have a good idea will wait forever. Artists who keep their hands busy are the only ones who get ideas.
Keep showing up
When you can’t think of anything to write, you feel like giving up. This is the one thing you should never, ever do. Write more. Work on the new website some more. Keep adding code to your app.
Getting into a creative routine can really help with this. When you set aside a certain time every day to do your creative work, it helps you show up even when you don’t feel like it. Don’t worry if the work you’re doing during that time isn’t satisfying. You can always change your mind. What counts is that you keep making stuff.
Do a brain dump
Sometimes it helps to just write down everything you’re thinking. Write them down or type them into a document, and then think of more ideas. Don’t try to figure out what the ideas are or worry about spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc. Your goal is just to make something that will show you all the different ways you can deal with your creative block so you can find one way to move forward.
As you write everything down, you may start to see connections and options you didn’t see before. You’ll also have new ideas that might take you to places you didn’t expect.
Change up your routine
In general, creative people benefit a lot from having routines. But sometimes, to get out of a rut, you need to change up your routine. Find a different coffee shop or work in the morning instead of the evening. Changing where you work can be enough to get your creative juices flowing again.
You might even need to change how you do your job. For instance, instead of typing into a Google doc, you could speak into a note on your phone (you can also dictate in Google docs as well). Changing the way you work forces your brain to think in a different way, which can spark creative ideas.