Storytime: Overcoming my creative output blocks

Published in

Writers Guild

7 min readNov 3, 2018

It starts every Sunday, my writers block moment. Then I tend to push it off to Monday and by Tuesday morning, I’m in Panic mode, what am I going to write about this week!?

I’ll be honest, I started with a very good ideas list on my Google Keep and every time I’d hear something interesting I’d write it down as an idea. But of course, when I needed that list and some inspiration, I’d forget I’d even have that list to use.

Often marketing teams are also looked upon as the creative hubs of the company, but I can assure you through experience that we too run into roadblocks when our pixie dust runs out.

Lately I have been finding myself going back to something I read on medium: A lot of your writing ideas will come from your personal experiences.

This piece of advice has been put into practice many times. In fact, most of us can probably agree that our conversation starters, our blogs, our videos, our social media, our marketing campaigns, or more, all have a bit of personal experience in them.

Overtime, those personal experiences become repositories that we can utilize as support to surface updated and relevant content to our audiences. And there is no harm in doing a little #ThrowbackThursday style of content. No shame is doing that, heck I’m about to show you a piece from my past in a bit!

Personal experiences have been a pillar in storytelling, speeches, writing and more. So here is me bringing a little piece of me to you in a #WaybackWednesday blog.

Cue: Storytime

Creativity was never a route I was walking down growing up. I’m a very analytical person, so thinking of fun creative things on spot didn’t come very easily. A lot of this also translated into my work, the way I approached problems, my writing, public speaking etc. I was a facts gyal.

I went to school for Science and Business so naturally, I was surrounded by academic reports, economic and financial graphs, scientific facts etc. Not to say those elements aren’t creative but they rarely touch on personal experiences and storytelling, though I’m sure that’s starting to change.

One of my most proud creative moments came out of my fear of public speaking. I had always been nervous about it. I have yet to be able to point out whether it was confidence thing or the fact that I really didn’t have must to say that was interesting enough to listen to.

When it comes to fear or creative blocks, I’ve adapted to dwells on the issue for a week or so, maybe a month or seconds (you know really depending on the life or death type of situation). In the realm of public speaking, I figured okay I need to be an adult here and just go out there and give it a shot. Lucky for me, I ended up finding a tamed way of doing it, because I went fully public.

Second year university, I ended up signing up for a speech communication course. I figured, not only would this help me with my writing and public speaking, but maybe it will also help me overcome some creative roadblocks when it comes to writing.

First class, we get an assignment, a five-minute speech on something entertaining where we can share a piece of advice. I had also recently ended a relationship and was trying my hand at getting back in the market. I figured, hmm what better way to break the ice, overcome a fear and cross a hurdle than embarrassing myself in front of my peers.

I cracked open my laptop, took inspiration from a personal experience and began writing my speech.

Dear Readers,
Behold! My first ever public speech on THE SCIENCE OF FLIRTING!

The Science of Flirting

According to an article on BBC.com, it can take someone between 90 seconds to 4 minutes to decide if they “fancy” you. Shockingly, it doesn’t necessarily depend on how much of a smooth talk you are. If we were to break it down in numbers, this attraction is 55% body language, 36% tone and 7% what you say.

Flirting! we have all done it at some point, whether we know it or not. Whether we intended it or not. Whether it was for fun or to get someone’s attention.
So what is flirting exactly and how does one nail it? Let’s take a look at three main aspects of flirting. The science behind it, they movers and the shakers of flirting and the Do’s and Don’ts of flirting.
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So, why do people flirt? Is it just for fun and teasing? or does it hold more meaning?
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An anthropological article on discovery stated that some scientists believe that flirting has a biological aspect to it. It is the universal expression and basic instinct of human interaction when we are interested in someone. They believe it is our way of telling our prospective mates how dependable and fit we are to reproduce. Realistically, it all makes sense, if we do not have that first sense of attraction, human race might not have evolved so to speak due to lack of reproduction. Usually when we are flirting with someone who fits well for us, our limbic system takes over. In other words, we operate based on our emotions and instincts rather than being just completely rational.
A lot of the times when we are intrigued and interested our pupils tend to dilate as well. However, flirting is not just an animalistic behavior to catch out prey. We need to have the ability to convey our message to the ones we find ourselves attracted to.
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In comparison to the olden ages now-a-days there are many ways of getting that other individual’s attention. The social issues research center highlights some key areas where flirting could take place. These include the obvious parties, where people are more relaxed, they act calm and are in a celebrating mood. Drinking places such as bars are a great place to start a conversation with a stranger sitting next to you. However, this is limited to the areas where the drinks are being served. Learning places such as schools, colleges and universities are the most evident places where young individuals make their first attempts at meeting others. Other places that are ideal include workplaces and spectator events. Though they too have their unwritten etiquette, for example you would not flirt while you are supposed to be doing your job, but perhaps during a coffee break? Spectator events are usually meant for watching the show, but it might light up a spark due to common interest. Some common signs of flirting include complementing each other, asking about your interests, touching your arm or knee, leaning in while standing close, smiling a lot, and for the ladies the usual flipping of the hair and swaying your hips while you walk.
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Just like any other activity, flirting too has etiquette that need to be kept in mind, so you do not give off the wrong impression.
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The last thing you want is for someone to get the idea that you are interested when you are just in the friend’s zone. However, if the idea is to attract the other person, an individual needs to be able to carry on a conversation in an appealing manner. To help that long Glamour magazine points out some do’s and don’ts of flirting.
- Body language is the first impression in these cases. A person looks approachable if they look relaxed, calm, confident and are making eye contact. But, make sure you are not staring.
- Either take the initiative to start a conversation or if he /she has already made the first step look interested.
- Share information about yourself as well while keeping a normal tone and average pace. Do not overplay though.
- Most of us now-a-days tend to flirt via text messaging. If you give out your number do not forget to say “text me/call me” along with it.
- It is also okay to have small verbal conversation over the phone occasionally and to ask the person out via text message. Do not have one-word conversation however, the person will start losing interest.
- A big don’t is not to text under the influence or play hard to get.
Research done by BBC has shown that people are generally not interested in individuals who play hard to get.
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We have gone through 3 different features of flirting that cover the what, where and how. You now know the science behind flirting, the key places and signs of flirting as well as the do’s and don’ts of flirting.
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You never know when these will make your date go with a bang and turn it into something special.

One think you’ll notice that my analytic sides still shows quiet a lot in this speech with factual points. Overtime, I’ve learned how to work storytelling into my work more. Every experiences teaches us a bit more. Though this speech was the start, every day I find myself growing more and utilizing my creative side more in my work, my interactions and my experiences.

What are some things you do to overcome your creative output blocks?