Lest you think I have it all together, let me assure you I do not. Remember last week when I had my weekly posts both written and scheduled to go live at 8am on Monday and Wednesday? Well, both of my planned posts for this week flopped and here I am, 5pm Wednesday evening scrambling to put a post together because I’ll be darned if I don’t stick to my New Year, New Me blog post schedule.
Working in a creative industry puts a certain creative expectation on you. We’re told time and time again that we need to put out fresh, relevant content, and we need to do it often. Create expectations, don’t get lost in the crowds or become forgotten by your audience! Well, what happens when the creative content isn’t there? You feel drained, uninspired, and all around exhausted of creativity. I’ve found myself circling in this pool for a few weeks now so I’ve been doing these three things to swim my way out!
- Go outside. Going outside clears my mind in that cliche sort of way. That is, of course, when the neighbor dogs aren’t barking ;) I like to either play fetch outback with Turbo or take him for a little walk around the neighborhood.
- Read a book. Even if it’s only one chapter or several pages, finding time to crack open someone else’s creative gift to the world stretches my imagination a bit further than it was just a few minutes prior.
- Do one small task. I wish I could remember where I read this tip, it may have been Emily Ley’s blog, but I can’t for the life of me find the source! Anyhow, take some time away from whatever it is that’s blocking your productivity and complete a mundane task. These tasks can range from something small like organizing your utensil drawer to something on a grander scale like going through the clothes in your closet. The idea is that you’ll feel a “high” after completing this one task and it will then propel you into more productivity and perhaps get you through that creative block.
If you’re struggling through a creative block then hopefully these three tips give you a starting place. Before writing this post I did #1 and #2 and here I am 385 words later, creative block overcome.
