What Makes it tougher — let’s get to know what creative blocks are…
Recalling the promise to myself, I sat in front of the laptop to start writing the article on things that made it hard to begin expressing our creative self. Believe me, even this time, it was hard to connect words to form a meaningful sentence. I went back and forth with my keys and back arrow, wondering what I must do. I was planing over the last three weeks to bake this piece of apple pie, but I again was stuck. I thought perhaps I had a lousy evening today. So I decided to take a break. I talk to a few of my friends who made me feel up, and then after I had a pampering hot shower and sat back again in front of my working table. But this time it was better. I had a quick reflection of what made me feel empty. I realized that the cycle is the same, That limits us from expressing our creative ideas fully and the way we want, and we call them creative blocks.
As I told you all in my previous article, these blocks can be categorized in a few ways. Perceptual block, Emotional Block, the Environmental block, and the Intellectual Block. I found these terms almost two years ago while working on my Comprehensive Project at the design school. So let’s discuss what they actually mean.
The Perceptual Block
Imagine a situation that you are working on figuring out a solution to a problem. Let’s say it’s a scenario where you got your brief for your newest design project. So with enthusiasm, you start off researching and doing precedence studies; you read other articles related to your area. You start to imagine things, then try to build up your dreams upon it. I am pretty sure we all have experienced this. So, right after we get a brief, our mind sends pop-up messages on how the outcome should look like, and if you cling to this idea, we will be stuck.
Even though you may not accept that fact, think back and recall a day you started with your first idea, and when you came to the ideation stage, what happened to you… and your answer should probably be, “I was lost, and I had no idea coming into my head.” This is just one case.
On the other hand, imagine that you were so fond of reading and exploring the topic. When you read through the first resource, you felt, “It would be great if I can incorporate this into my project.” When reading the next one, “ahh, I should add this feature too…”. Then when you met your hundredth resource, “Oh shoot, this is way too complex,” and then you realize that you are being carried away from what you actually should have dealt with. The temptation of including everything in one place has made you lost.
Also, there will be instances where we might have proceeded in the design thinking process. Later you realize that you have been imagining without considering the actual cause or missed the key points you had to deal with. Pretty much similar, huh? Most of the time, we get carried away because of our inability to understand the problem clearly.
If I sum up all these instances, we can conclude that the perceptual blocks are caused by the following behaviours or thinking patterns.
· Our stereotype perception.
· Getting overloaded with information.
· Our inability to utilize all sensory information (Because temptations carry us away so quickly).
· Our tendency to make assumptions.
· Our ignorance which results in missing associations
And let me move on to the next type of block on my list.
The Emotional Block
The emotional blocks cause the biggest blockers to my own creative self in my personal experience. I feel afraid to get into work; I feel upset if things go wrong, I keep saving drafts rather than getting them published.
Similarly, we all face this at different levels. Some know how to handle emotions well independently, but some may still be struggling, but that’s okay. We all are human, after all. But there are strategies to overcome this issue, so we all can beat this monster. But before learning these strategies, let me introduce you all to the types of emotional blocks.
There might be numerous categorizations of emotional blocks, but let me tell you all about the most prominently occurring types.
Perfectionism — this is what makes us feel that we are not good enough. It leads to self-doubt, self-sabotaging, and ultimately procrastination. This will never do good to us; as we all know, extremes can harm, and there should be control over it.
The greediness — We might not be ready to accept this fact at first glance. But think a little of a moment you couldn’t perform so well in a design process at your school or your workplace. This happened because you tried to hit the highest mark or attempted to be under the spotlight. You felt you’re not getting there, and then you felt blocked before finalizing your design. Or maybe you wanted to add all the exciting stuff you came across while researching, and boom! You were screwed while making a prototype. This is a transaction with our ego; it does not let us collaborate, share, and explore alternatives.
Greed fuels bragging and are the antithesis of creativity, for it already has the answers and doesn’t need to investigate, learn, or grow.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/counseling-keys/201907/three-emotional-blocks-creativity
Reluctance and reservedness of thought- sometimes, we might end up in a very irritable state because we are not open. We are not ready to accept the truth. This trait will result in us feeling so gloomy and down. Imagine a situation that we have received very hard to bear criticism. We are not open nor ready to accept that. The outcome would likely be when we have taken it personally and feeling so hurt and offended in a case like this. This will never let us move forward instead of stagnating us and our thoughts at the same place.
So, Let me list down a few experiences we encounter, which denote that we face an emotional block.
· Fear of failure
· Being Afraid of Chaos
· inability to incubate due to inability of giving time
· Judging ideas rather than generating
· Being Too Absent or too Involved in the task
· Comparing themselves with others
·Struggle with Reality and Fantasy
There are more varieties of emotions that block us, so if you feel stuck, reflect on the situation and try figuring out the feelings that stop you on your own.
The Environmental Block
The environmental block talks about the difficulties that are caused by external factors. It develops a negative attitude towards the work because of the uncomfortable feeling we get.
Let me tell you an example of this. We all had to shift to working from home practice because of the current pandemic situation. Because of this, you had to make your own bedroom your work premises, and you had difficulty finding that right chair that makes you feel comfortable. It may be the lady next door who screamed out so loud to their children for no reason and cracked your mood when you were at a deep meditative state in ideation. Or maybe it’s the tune of the choon pan tuk that distracted you and took you that interesting idea away. Now you can’t recall what it is. Apart from these facts, financial difficulties, social norms and beliefs, and your stress and mood may limit you from letting your creative ideas spark.
Theoretically, Environmental blocks are not a singular topic. It discusses our own external and internal environments and the ideological environments raised through the societal and cultural value systems. I hope it doesn't sound elementary. So let me explain it broadly in another article.
The Intellectual Block
The next type of block in my list is the Intellectual block. Intellectual blocks enact difficulties in expressing, perusing, and being strategic in the work we do.
We might not have the necessary skills to choose the right language to think or express our ideas, or maybe we are not flexible with the strategy. If not, it may be an instance where we don’t have much information to proceed because we haven’t researched it.
Remember a situation when you had to present in front of a wide audience. You had no clue how to behave and how to tackle the stage Fear, or maybe you are terrible at presentation. You were just frozen and was unable to express your million worth creative idea to the audience.
Creativity is not just generating creative solutions or products. Still, it also talks about the way how generated results should be taken out to the world. If you haven’t learned or practised the skillset that you need to master as a creative individual, I am pretty sure that this block will get you caught up quickly.
To overcome creative blocks, the first step is to be aware of what is happening to us when we encounter it. To recognize what blocks, you have to know what would be the causes for this to happen. I guess you all have a sound idea of what these blocks are by now.
I will explain to you a step-by-step approach that we can follow to set our creativity free and how to break through creative blocks in the next couple of essays to come.
So stay tuned to “An Amature Speaks — on Creativity.” To learn more about these monsters, which scare our inner creativity and not let come to light. And Also, about the strategies to defeat them and how to move forward with confidence!
