Here are practical steps to maintain sanity and not lose creativity.
It happens to the best of us. The moment you think you’ve got it all figured out, then you dive into developing the next big thing you can ever imagine. Only for a few minutes to pass and then… Poof! You’re simply… BLANK!
You try to back up a little, and probably retrace how you got here, but then, the lines are just too faint for you to connect any dots.
Then you mostly take a break, and it becomes increasingly difficult to get back on your feet. The beginning of your thought lines look foggy, the path to continue is almost fading… At this point, one of two things could happen:
- You either give up on that particular project
- You force yourself to push through, and then, deliver what’s far below your standard and expectations
Either way, this scenario isn’t a new phenomenon; especially to anyone who does a lot of creative works like we Designers. And funny enough, we’ve coined the perfect term for such a difficult situation: Creativity Block.
Many creatives, at some point in their professional career, experience a creative block. This can be frustrating considering that one depends on the ability to create something out of the ordinary to pay bills and afford a relatively comfortable life.
Creative block is mostly a common issue amongst many professionals. It represents the difficulty in getting inspired to create something or the inability to access one’s depth of creativity thus leaving one doubting one’s capabilities. Many professionals who are writers, artists, musicians, songwriters, graphics designers, visual designers and also user interface and user experience (UI/UX) designers are usually affected by creative blocks, and this can last for days, weeks, months or even years — depending on how much they can manage it.
Having encountered this a couple of times myself, I felt the impression to share with other Designers out there, whose works require more creativity and less blockade.
But before I begin analysing how to totally subdue the creativity block, it’s important you understand the subtle forms in which the creativity block exists for UI/UX designers and creatives.
The first one isn’t my favourite:
1. The Mental Block
Science says the brain is the largest part of the human body containing millions of cells and a couple of million other neurons sending electronic impulses which process all the information of your mind and send signals to every part of your body, all in milliseconds.
Imagine you’re running out of time to complete a project but ideas aren’t flowing: you’re staring at your computer hoping that a light bulb of an original design idea will magically lit up in your mind, still, time flies by and nothing happens. Usually, it boils down to numerous voices flowing up and down your head which feel so real:
Voices that sometimes sounds like:
“This is nowhere close to being splufik!”
“Why can’t I just get this animation straight?”
“This is never going to come out plain and render on multiple devices”
“I’m almost there, but there’s something missing…” {most times, you’d never find it, and then you just keep procrastinating until you can do this no more}.
Few of the problems associated with mental blockage include overthinking, close-mindedness, indecisiveness, inner criticism. The good news is, there are ways to maintain your sanity and navigate the mental creativity block. Check out the practical steps I have compiled below:
Possible Solutions:
- Take a break (sleep, play games etc): more often than not, the best things and events of life come out of the seemingly inconsequential scenarios we indulge ourselves in. For instance, playing a slapstick game like snake and ladder or monopoly could strike an idea in your head to have a curvy path or colourful boxes embedded in your designs.
- Talk to other creatives: no one is an island of knowledge. And we all make mistakes so others like us can learn’. Sometimes, we just need to drop the ego and seek help from others. For instance, you’re reading this because you probably want to learn how to get out of the mental block box we all experience, and this is me, sharing from my wealth of experience. You probably wouldn’t be learning how to overcome your creativity block problems if you weren’t reading this, right now. See how the experiences of others help us circumvent life and work dilemmas?
- Go somewhere, listen, read or view something new: to maintain your prowess as a creative, you need to abstain from a sedentary lifestyle. Activities such as going out to some interesting places, stretching your legs for the want of fresh air, etc., helps you in immeasurable ways. I’ve got a friend who deliberately opted to take a workspace by the beach. Though more expensive, he always justifies his choice by claiming “oh, the sea whispers ideas to me all the time…”; Of course, myself and other friends didn’t take that literally, but we agreed that sometimes, sightseeing may help inspire one’s innate creative nature; and starring at the sea a couple of times isn’t bad in any sense.
2. Task Overwhelming
As a creative, too many tasks with a little time to achieve them can be mind-blogging. Sometimes, it also comes from having too much information or ideas on how to carry out the tasks or project.
We’ve all encountered this challenge at some points or the other;
- Too many tasks
- Too many commitments, expectations
- Too many ideas, information
And the problem with each one is SO LITTLE TIME.
Considering that designers’ works mostly rely on interfacing with teams and sometimes clients directly, having to deal with numerous demands, or promising a couple of adjustments causes us to have too many commitments and expectations, which ultimately leads to a creative block.
Possible Solutions:
- Make a To-do list and set realistic deadlines: Making a to-do list and setting realistic deadlines can go a long way in solving task overwhelmedness. As much as there might be the urge to take on many tasks and increase commitments, it is also important to know when to say ‘No’, so as to reduce expectations.
- Say NO to more commitments and reduce expectations: If you’re loaded with too much information to complete a task, you can consider cutting down to what matters in getting the task done.
- Match the ideas and info that best fit the work at hand: Usually creative designers’ minds are flooded with various unique ideas required in completing a particular task. It’s in your best interest to filter these ideas and see the one that perfectly fits your task at hand.
- Cut-out distractions: Switch off your internet, phones and other devices; don’t do internet searches, avoid physical distractions to enable your mind focus and process inherent ideas and thoughts that would aid your task.
3. Time loss Vs. Heightened Pressure
What do you do when you’ve been trying to crush a task for the last 30 minutes only for you to look away from your computer screen a bit, and then you realised you’ve actually spent more than 3 hours on the computer. How time flies…!
The thought of missing a deadline almost instantaneously leads to a dead-end for most creatives. This is because, by the time you start rushing, you mix everything up or scatter the thoughts that have been carefully aligned and flowing through your creativity pathway.
Your brain signals automatically shift from exploring ideas to making it in TIME!
In the end, we creatives often lose far more than bargained for. You neither gain time nor churn out the perfect job. It becomes a fifty shades of mess.
Possible Solutions:
- Communicate delays: it’s OK not to make it in time; no one controls time; as long as quality comes in the end
- Once you feel time-pressured; do the reverse of the norm: pause work, instead of trying to rush through, and speak to the project manager on the possibility of time extension
- Take a break: you’d need a break to rethink and reapportion your schedules to fit the new timeline
- Get back to work: remap your deliverables, creating an actionable to-do list and then, start again.
4. Unbalanced work-life
A typical creative designer is expected to work between the normal 9–5 work-frame. However, due to the fact that there’s usually much to do as a result of too many commitments; the work-life balance takes a hit. A report claims that on a scale of 5, a UX designers work-life balance stands at 3.9.
The downside to not spending time with oneself and with friends and family in the bid to crush too many tasks within a little period of time can lead to us severing relationships we’ve invested in time to grow. And most times when we finally realise, it’s almost too late.
Possible Solution:
To effectively have a work-life balance, time management is of utmost importance. Tracking the time spent on tasks and concentrating on one task per time would help create a balance between work and life.
In another case, you may consider telling your boss, family, friends, colleagues, and anyone else you’re involved with about your work-life balance plan and asking them to respect it.
I hope you find this article useful, thank you for reading.
