Finding Inspiration When You’re Suffering From Creative Block
“The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.” — Lao Tzu
We all have periods when we suffer from a lack of ideas or motivation. What can we do when the work just won’t flow, where should we take that first step?
There’s no single one-size-fits-all answer but I’ve compiled several of my go-to tips for finding creative inspiration below.
Take a Shower
Shower time is a great time to reflect on problems and come up with solutions. This is where I get the majority of my best ideas.
Mundane everyday tasks can be done without conscious thought. When we enage in the activities that don’t require our full attention our brains can come up with insightful ideas in the background.
Cognitive scientist and author Scott Barry Kaufman discovered that 72% of people get creative ideas in the shower. He attributed this to the relaxing atmosphere and solitary environment that allows the mind to wander freely.
Kaufman’s study also found 16% of people shower just for the purpose of finding creative solutions.
Try Hypnagogic Napping
Some people reach a similar creative state when they are close to falling asleep. Albert Einstein used to go for a nap while sitting in a chair, he would hold keys in his hand and leave a plate on the floor below.
When he fell asleep the keys would drop shortly after and make a noise that would rouse him.
This extremely short form of napping has been proven to boost creative thought, as the brain has not yet reached stage 2 sleep. Surrealist artist Salavador Dali and other geniuses also practiced this method to provoke inspiration.
Go for a Nature Walk
Surrounding yourself with nature is a way to appreciate the natural beauty and wonder of the world. The animals, trees, mountains, and everything you see when out walking are a catalyst for ideas.
Bring a notebook and pencil to jot ideas down or simply sketch what you see.
Attend or Stream a Conference
Watching a creative professional talk about their journey while sharing ideas and advice is very powerful. It makes us want to be like them and get to work.
You don’t need to invest money to get inspired by a great speaker CreativeMornings have over 5000 talks you can access for free. They also host free events in 184 cities worldwide.
Read a Book
Few things in life get our imagination flowing better than a book. Fiction is great for tapping in to the weird and wonderful. Non-fiction allows knowledge building and invokes thought on different ideas, processes and stastistics.
Try and find a book club (offline or online) related to your discipline where you can share recommendations and thoughts with likeminded people.
Reach Out to Your Peers
Sometimes asking friends what they’re working on is a great way to get inspiration even if they work in a completely unrelated field.
Reaching out to the professionals you personally admire can also be a big motivation booster, send them a polite email or tweet and see what happens.
Check Out Other People’s Designs
Instagram and Pinterest are good resources for checking out the creative work of others. The former can often be a window in to an individual’s process during a project, showing the conceptual work and thoughts you rarely ever see from a finished piece. The latter is fantastic for creating mood boards.
Listen to the Same Song on Repeat
This is a little trick I first heard about from Matt Mullenweg’s (founder of WordPress) appearance on Tim Ferris’ podcast.
Repetiton can help us achieve a flow state where creativity and focus are boosted. I’ve found the most notable results come from tracks without vocals, experimentation is key to find what works best for you. My personal favourite songs to work with are from the Final Fantasy video game series.
In her book On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind, psychologist Elizabeth Hullmuth wrote:
“Musical repetition gets us mentally imagining or singing through the bit we expect to come next… A sense of shared subjectivity with the music can arise. In descriptions of their most intense experiences of music, people often talk about a sense that the boundary between the music and themselves has dissolved”
Keep a Database of the ‘Worst’ Ideas You Can Think of
If you can’t think of anything you consider good, writing down a list of seemingly terrible ideas can help create a fantastic one.
A good method is to keep a record of these ideas in a spreadsheet or on a cloud-based note taking app. When revisiting your treasure trove of ‘bad’ ideas you might find some of them are actually a lot better than you thought or can be combined or remixed with something else to create greatness.
Simply put, more ideas lead to better ideas.
Don’t Forget About the Unlikely Sources
Sometimes the inspiration you need to create your best work can come from the most unexpected places.
That construction site you go past every morning could have something awesome looking that can be incorporated in your next logo or character design.
Keep an open mind and pay attention to the world around you when you’re out in it, particularly in the places you’d least associate with inspiration.
Feel free to share your own counter measures for creative block in the comment section😀. If you found this helpful then please share it with somone else that might enjoy it. Tweet me @hervo16 and let me know how the tips worked for you!
