As an entrepreneur, a creative, or a content creator, there are times in your journey where you might feel low on inspiration/creativity and you feel like you’ve run out of ideas to work with.
There could be different factors responsible for this…. Stress, fear, anxiety, putting too much pressure on yourself, or having high expectations from your work, amongst others
The inability to access your creativity might be defined as creative/inspiration obstacles or creativity block.
Authors, musicians, painters, performers, and writers are the most susceptible to creative block, which can last for days, weeks, months, or years.
And, if you’d like to keep your creative juices flowing, what can you do to spur creativity then?
I’ll be outlining 8 things you could try, that could help spark your creativity and get your creative juices flowing again.
Here goes:
9 SIMPLE WAYS THAT YOU CAN 10X YOUR CREATIVITY!
1. Plan in Advance.
Creativity ebbs and flows. Sometimes it’s high, and well… sometimes it’s not.
There would be times when you wouldn’t have any idea what to create and you have to plan for these times where you’d feel creatively stuck.
You could have a content calendar that’ll consist of the content ideas you have for a specific time frame.
It could be a month, 3 months, 6months, or even a year – whichever way you like it.
You can also have a journal where you put down all the ideas you get.
Remember that ideas go as quickly as they come, so you should always have it captured in written words before it slips away from your mind.
No matter how silly the idea sounds to you at that moment, don’t discard the idea as invalid.. just write it down somewhere.
It might just need a little tweaking to become great stuff.
Related: How Being Organised Can Boost Your Productivity
2. Ask Your Audience.
Whether you run out of ideas or not, this is something you should do often – find out what your audience wants you to create and give it to them.
Your audience can be really helpful when it comes to giving you ideas that can boost your creativity.
Whenever you’re feeling creatively stuck, ask for the opinion of those who find your work useful or interesting, and hear what they have to say.
You can easily get ideas to create something spectacular from their suggestions.
3. Take a Break.
This is the most common advise given to people who experience creative block – to go on a break
You might not need a long break every time you feel creatively stuck – sometimes, a few hours would do.
Other times, it might be a few days, a week, or even a month…
While you’re taking the time off, I wouldn’t advise that you just sit around doing nothing all day – except it’s recommended for your health.
With your time off, you can relax, watch a good movie, take a walk, listen to music, do some workout, feed your pet, get rid of the clutter in your home/workspace, etc
Taking breaks helps reduce stress, improves your health and concentration levels,
4. Try Something New.
When you feel like no idea is coming to you at all, you might want to try something you’ve never tried before.
This may not seem like a good idea to you because you might be thinking:
“hey! I’m trying to get into my creative zone so I can get back to work here. How is leaving the zone completely going to help me??”
But yeah, learning something new that fascinates you can get you back into your creative zone faster than you can imagine.
Mind you, it doesn’t have to be related to your line of work.. you could engage yourself in a sport that’s new to you.
You could learn how to play an instrument, how to dance, how to cook/bake, how to draw or paint, anything at all that interests you.
When it’s time to get back to work, your creative juices feel renewed and ready to take on a challenge.
5. Start, and feel free to fail.
You’ve created amazing content before and right now, you feel the one you’re creating just isn’t ‘it’.
Because of that, you stop writing midway through your content and you start making corrections on all the things you’ve written down but don’t like.
Then you decide altogether that what you’ve written down so far is nothing but crap and so you decide to start all over and by doing this, you only make things seem harder for you.
Perfectionism kills creativity.
Just create, and allow yourself to fail freely. This is the best way to create content.
The first draft of your work isn’t meant to be perfect anyways, it’s just for you to get all your ideas out of your head, and then you can create something better out of it.
6. Be Observant.
Content ideas are everywhere and in almost everything you do.
You just have to be observant enough to find it and use it properly.
You can even create content with your process – your journey and experience as an entrepreneur.
Pay more attention to the simple activities that occur around you and turn them into useful content.
7. Be Disciplined.
Most times, the days when you don’t feel like doing any creative work but force yourself, are the days where you end up doing the best work.
Even when you don’t feel like it, practice being creative every day.
Consistency can spark creativity.
Discipline yourself enough to take the first step towards creating something.
If it doesn’t work, then you can try any of the other steps listed above, before trying again.
8. Have a Creative Constraint.
When it comes to being creative, thinking inside the box can be much better than thinking outside it.
Create your box of ideas with multiple opportunities and explore them.
You’re setting yourself up for creative destruction if you’re not thinking in a certain direction when you’re trying to create something, you make your thought process a lot more difficult than it should be.
Let’s say you want to write about productivity, for instance…
Trying to write on this topic with everybody in mind would make it harder to write but if you were thinking of writing about productivity for entrepreneurs or students, it becomes much easier to write something that’ll they’ll find useful.
Explore, but have limits.
9. Invest in Self Care.
Intentionally adding self-care to your routine can make you feel better about yourself and give you a positive feel towards work.
Most times, people get their best ideas during their self-care moment – in the shower, in the gym, while having a massage, etc
Take adequate care of yourself – eat healthily, drink lots of water, exercise, and get the right amounts of sleep.
In conclusion,
Creativity cannot be forced, but you can help it develop and the best way to do that is to just start, and embrace the fact that it might not be very good from the start.
There are times when you might need to take a break but a time will also come where you need to allow yourself to fail freely.
You can also up your creative game a bit by drawing ideas from your entrepreneurial journey.
Is there a method you use in boosting your creativity that isn’t listed here? Share with us in the comment section!
Nice read, I learnt a lot.
Glad you enjoyed it, Shekinah! I’d love to see you again and again on the blog!