10 Ways To Break Through That Creative Slump
We all create, it’s in our nature.
Some write, paint, knit, throw pottery, or sculpt. Some dream up new inventions, find ways to cure diseases, or find ways to be more efficient at our jobs or with our time. Whatever your dream, to create is at the core of all we do.
What happens, however, when we hit a wall with our creativity? What happens when we have a stalemate between our creative dreams and our brain, which we sometimes swear is broken or malfunctioning?
Do we sink and give up, or do we reassess, retry, and fly?
Hopefully you yank yourself up by the bootstraps and move forward. How you may ask? How do you go from creative funk to imaginative visionary? I’m glad you asked!
Here are ten ways to pull yourself out of that creative haze:
Take the night off
Sometimes the mind just needs a break to reset itself. Take a day to do NOTHING related to your creative endeavor. Go out with the girls or guys, take the kids to play miniature golf, go shopping. Just get your mind completely off whatever it is you’ve been working on. I guarantee you, you’ll come back the next day with a fresh perspective. Give your mind a little vacation.
Watch a motivational movie
I have a couple go-to movies. Rudy, Cool Runnings, Miracle, and Cinderella Man inspire me, and make me feel like I can do anything. You have to find whatever works for you, though. I don’t know know what new-fangled flicks the kids are watching these days that might work for motivational inspiration. (You are welcome to throw me some ideas in the comments!)
Read
Whenever I am creatively stuck, I read a book pertaining to what I’m doing. It doesn’t matter if it’s fiction, self-help, or functional. Just reading will spark ideas that I can write down and come back to when I’m ready.
Do something else creative
Are you a writer? Try knitting. Are you an inventor? Try woodworking. Just trying something else will get your mind focused on other things, allowing your brain to relax. You’ll be back to your creative project before you know it.
Talk it out
Sure, this can be a professional, but some of my best ideas have come from conversations I’ve had with my nine-year-old daughter. Brainstorm with someone, or simply tell them how you’re stuck. Just saying it outloud might trigger an idea you wouldn’t otherwise have.
Be nonsensical
Get crazy wild. Stay on your project, but get wacky with it. Just let your brain go. Dreaming up plans for a new house? Give it some crazy floor plan. Working on a meeting for work? Write down everything you want to say but can’t. Drawing the background for a scenic picture? Put some Dr. Seuss trees in there. You can always fix the silliness, and it may work to free up some creative space in that noggin of yours.
Play with a child
Children are naturally imaginative and inquisitive. They can give you all sorts of ideas, just through playing. Get down on their level. Brush that doll’s hair. Vroom that toy car into that toy garage. They will have fun, and it just may help you.
Motivational quotes
I think we’ve all done this at one time or another. You can find these motivational quotes all over the place. You can find them passed around on social media, or you can Google “motivational quotes.” Read them. Save them. Post them on your mirror.
Be careful, though. Don’t spend so much time looking for quotes that you miss the reason for looking for these quotes in the first place. It’s easy to get sucked into wormholes when looking for quotes. I might be speaking from experience.
YouTube it
There are about a bazillion videos on every subject known to man on YouTube. Watch a few videos pertaining to your creativeness, and it may rattle your brain around enough to get inspiration. Don’t plagiarize, however. Make sure your ideas are your own.
Doodle
Do you ever just sit with a blank page of paper and a pen, drawing circles or something else that doesn’t take any thought? Well, you probably don’t have much time to just sit there and let your mind wander, but try it! Some people are actually able to better focus if they have their brain split between focusing and fidgeting. Doodling is a good way to do this.
Creating is fun, it’s freeing, it’s refreshing, and sometimes it’s hard. From time to time, it’s okay to take a mental break to restart our creative epicenters. Finding other ways to occupy that time and space may be just what’s needed to make that creative breakthrough.
