Feeling Stuck? 17 Ways to be More Creative

We all have days or even weeks where we can’t come up with anything. Or at least anything good. This is what is known as the creative block and it happens to everyone. But I have some good news. There is something you can do about it. If you’re wondering how to become more creative, the answer is simple.

Just start

Maybe at the beginning, you only have bad ideas, but that’s a start. It’s likely you could turn one of those bad designs into something good. Just allow yourself to be free. Draw what comes to mind or start making a mind map. But don’t stress about it too much.

New experiences

You need to expose yourself to new experiences. When you expose yourself to new things, you learn and challenge your brain in ways you haven’t before. This will help you come up with new ideas and will help you get creative again. Here are some of the things that you can try out:

• Explore a new area — go outside and go somewhere completely new.
• Learn a new language — You could try Spanish, Italian, or even Arabic.
• Cook a new cuisine — have you ever tried Greek food?
• Play a new instrument — Why not learn the keyboard or ukulele?
• Do a different type of exercise — perhaps Pilates, yoga, or kickboxing?

Fuse ideas

Creativity is not about coming up with something completely different. Creativity often comes when you fuse multiple ideas together. Try to think of combinations no one has thought of. Take two random concepts and join them together and see what you get out of it. Allow yourself to play around and see what you can come up with.

Go into nature

In the past, artists have looked into the natural world to find inspiration for their work. Maybe you could start doing that too.

Going into nature also has many different benefits for your wellbeing. It’s good for your physical and mental health. It’s a good way to clear your head and find some inspiration. Take a notebook or some paper and start sketching or writing ideas down. This brings us on to the next point.

Keep a journal everywhere you go

Get a small journal (maybe one from recycled paper!) and take it everywhere you go. This way every time you have an idea you can write it down. Or perhaps you could draw something intriguing that you saw as you were walking. You can use the journal any way you like. Write your thoughts, doodle and soon more good ideas will start coming to you.

Break your routine

Nearly everyone has a routine throughout the day. We don’t even think about what we’re going to do when we wake up. We do it subconsciously as we have been doing the same things for so many years. But it’s time to switch it up. Make your brain work harder by making it think more. Change the order you do things during the day and during the week.

Self-discipline

Successful people do not wait for inspiration or some revolutionary idea to come to them. They chase it. They sit down and work on their skill even when they don’t feel like it. It’s exactly the same with creativity. You need to train and develop it to become better. Everyone can be creative if they put in the work.

Take a break

This might go against the previous point but you need to take breaks. When you are sitting over your desk and racking your brains to draw something good, maybe it would be a good idea to get up and walk around. Don’t do anything stimulating like watching TV or going on your phone. This will not allow your brain to relax. When you come back to your desk, you will feel a lot better.

Be bored

Rarely people have ideas when their brain is busy, for example when watching tv or when scrolling through their phones. Everyone needs to realize that they don’t have to be doing something every minute of the day. This is a habit that has recently formed. People don’t want to be bored. When they are on the train or waiting for a meeting they are always on their phones.

This is a habit that you need to break out of. Allow your mind to wander during these times and let your brain rest. Most times, people have the best ideas when simply going about their daily lives. When they are walking down the street or making coffee for example. Because when we do simple tasks like these, our brain is not doing much, so our mind wanders and it’s during this time that ideas tend to pop up.

Exercise

Go outside and get physical. Do any sort of exercise from swimming to running. Being active is very beneficial to your body and your brain. This is the reason, you need to be active. It’s crucial for your health.

Increase your creative input

You can’t create something out of thin air. You need to see what other people have created. The best way to get new ideas is to talk to people, go to art galleries, watch films, read books, and more. By exposing yourself to all these, you will get some inspiration. You could make a collage of your favorite things you heard or saw. After you have everything on one page, you can start making your designs and start combining different ideas.

Listen to music

It might be a good idea to listen to music when you are working. It would be even better if you switched things up and listen to different genres of music. This is part of having new experiences as mentioned before. Music is another form of art and it will help you during this process.

Work alone

Avoid crowds and go be with yourself. Drawing when alone is often better. Having people around and talking might stop you from focusing. Of course, this is a personal choice and you might be better working in a coffee shop for example. You decide what’s best for you.

Brainstorm

Come up with as many ideas as possible. Good or bad. The importance of this is that it allows you to start the creative process. Just write them down. Get a blank piece of paper and write, draw, stick pictures down. Just anything to get you started.

Avoid disruptions (no phone)

When you are working on your creativity, lock your phone away. Checking your phone every so often breaks your concentration and it’s hard to come back into focus after checking your messages. There are some other distractions that you could avoid. Do not have Netflix playing in the background. Multitasking of any kind is not effective, so do yourself a favour and avoid doing this. Finally don’t check your emails during this time. It’s yet another thing that breaks your concentration.

Meet other creatives

Go outside into the real world and meet creative people. Maybe you have friends that are designers. If not, you could consider going to events. Talking with other people and having good conversations is a sure way to become more creative. It will allow you to get a new perspective.

Enjoy it

Finally, just enjoy it. Being creative should not feel like a chore. It should be something that you love doing. There will be some days where you won’t ‘feel like it’ and you will need to use that self-discipline we talked about but in general you should have fun while doing this.

Conclusion

Having a creative block is normal but don’t worry, with these simple tips you will be able to come up with fresh and cool ideas for your next project. Sometimes it takes time for ideas to develop so don’t stress too much. If you put in the work, you will be able to create something amazing. Trust the process. My point is, don’t pressure yourself to come up with an extraordinary idea right away. It will come with time.

Originally published at https://www.terramovement.com on September 29, 2020.