🔥 Creative Block Review
I’m excited to share more about this card deck — the Creative Block. I got this one as a fantastic gift for the holidays. Get ready. I’m so ready to drop all the insight and thoughts! Let’s do it.
🤔 What’s in the deck?
Up first, what you physically get when you crack open the package of this deck of cards.
→ Total of 101 cards, with an added instruction card.
→ These cards are perfectly square. Think square business card size, like what you might get from Moo.
→ Each card contains a title of an approach to get out of your creative slump, with a short paragraph underneath going into a little more detail.
→ Some of the cards have a relevant quote — I love reading these! It’s like a little surprise each time you hit one of the cards with a quote hidden throughout.
“If we don’t get lost, we’ll never find a new route.” — Joan Littlewood
💡What I think.
My overall thoughts about the quality, packaging, content, and more.
→ Finally, a sturdy wooden box! Of course, that makes this deck hard to travel with, but boy, boy, is this a high-quality box! 🙌
→ There is so much goodness in this deck — different approaches to your creative thought process and methods that you can use for creative thinking in workshops.
😍 My fav cards.
It was hard to choose my favorites from the over 100 cards here! But I’ve selected a couple that spoke to me the most.
‘Keep an Idea Log’ — I adore this approach and sometimes even call it a swipe file. No matter what you use, a notebook, a notes app, Milanote, Notion, or even Miro, it’s great to do so you always have a place to go back to and get inspiration.
‘Mix + Mash’ — One of my favorite techniques; Taking two unrelated things and putting them together. It even suggests combining two of the cards in the deck.
‘F&%k Fear’ — Get to work despite your fear!
‘Cozy up to Discomfort.’ — Regularly put yourself in those awkward situations.
‘Get Metaphoric’ — Use great metaphors to evoke new images and feelings.
‘Say Yes, And…’—This has always been an approach I love. I list it as part of the workshop code when I facilitate. Using “Yes, And…” and avoiding “No, But…” helps get your imagination going and build on the ideas of others.
‘Change Your Scenery’—This is such a good one. Sometimes all you need is a new environment for a little bit. Try working somewhere different. It doesn’t have to be a completely different space. Maybe you can change your position. If you usually work sitting, try standing, or hey, perhaps even while walking.
👩💻 How do I use this as a facilitator?
As workshop designers or facilitators, we can learn so much from this deck and use it in our work.
You’d be surprised, even some of the cards you aren’t sure how to use beyond just individually for yourself. Let’s take the ‘Change Your Scenery’ card, for example—this might spark an idea for you to have your participants change their locations…what about a walkshop?!
I use the concept of the ‘Yes, And’ card almost every time I facilitate in my workshop code. Some of these other cards may be part of how you set the stage for a workshop to help people think creatively. There’s some gems in here.
Even though, at first glance, you might not think these can inspire workshop activities, they can! Many are brainstorming techniques that help you think more creatively — some cards in the deck that would help here are ‘Worst possible Idea,’ ‘Create Constraints, ‘See Through a New Lens,’ and ‘Listen Up.’ — there’s so many more too!
I love so many of these cards as ideas for bringing creative thought to my own workshops or even coaching other facilitators.
✨I can’t wait to continue using this deck and discover how I can create more workshop approaches and activities. ✨
Want to grab your own deck?
You can grab your own deck HERE on Amazon or directly on their site at http://shopcreativeblock.com/
(Note: the Amazon link is an affiliate link)
