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Anyone who endeavors to create something knows the feeling. You’re sitting there with the desire to work and NOTHING is happening. Your mind is as white as the page before you. And this doesn’t only go for the traditional arts. I’ve talked to computer programmers or even psychologists who wrestle with the same issues. The truth is, we must use our creativity to overcome nearly any obstacle or problem we encounter, virtually anytime something requires original thought. So I’ve come up with a few tips that help me, not only as a musical artist, but also as a computer user, a teacher, and a husband to overcome creative blocks!

Tip #1: Stop Saying ‘No’

This is a hard one. It was brilliantly illustrated to me by a teacher I had. He silently walked to the front of the room and put on someone’s music. He just sat there while we all listened and then asked us to write down three reactions to it. We then read them aloud and nearly every single one was negative. Now I know that musicians are particularly hard on each other but I think it can be said that anytime we judge our peers we have a tendency to find what we don’t like about their work. My teacher then went on to explain that every time we say ‘no’ to something (or judge it negatively) we are effectively cutting ourselves off from any possible growth. Think about it. You can can sit around and make lists of things you “aren’t” or “dislike” that could wrap around the world, but you still will not be one step closer to knowing what you want to do. For what we want to do is a reaction to what we admire, not what we don’t admire. So his solution was pretty easy. When looking into your chosen field or medium, find what you admire about other people’s work. Force yourself to do this, even if it’s something that in the past you would have summarily rejected, find something to like about it. You will start to feel the cogs creaking loose.

Tip #2: Cut Yourself Off

This can be applied in a couple of ways. The first is to try not to view creative energy like striking oil. When you strike oil you quickly hunker down and set up a well and suck all the oil out until the well is dry. Creativity doesn’t have to work that way. Sure, everyone has had moments of profound inspiration, and these are great, but unfortunately they don’t happen nearly enough nor almost ever on time. So to start to change your perception try this experiment: Set a time limit to how long you will let your creativity flow. Make it short initially, like ten minutes. Set a timer and then cut yourself off the minute it rings, right in the middle of the thought if necessary, and just leave your work for the rest of the day. A couple of interesting things will happen. First, your creative mind will actually continue to spin for the rest of the day (feel free to write down the ideas or fragments of thoughts that come up) and when you return to the pursuit the following day there will be no question about where to start. You actually will look forward to your time to sit down and work.

The second way to cut yourself off is really just an amalgamation of the first. I also like to call it “try again tomorrow.” This is for the days that really nothing is coming. Again, set up a specific amount of time that you will try, but if nothing is happening, or you don’t feel very good about what is happening, give yourself the permission to stop after the alloted time. It will put definite boundaries around how long you will let yourself struggle. When the time is up, walk away, confident that you have tried today and that you will try again tomorrow.

Tip #3: Focus Your Creative Energy Elsewhere

Many of us have instinctively followed this one since we were kids (think of getting bored), but it was reiterated to me by a writer. This writer was writing a book. She was all stopped up creatively and was really at her end with what she could do get writing again. She had tried writing exercise after writing exercise and nothing was working. So finally she put down her pen and picked up her camera and went walking around her neighborhood in search of interesting things to take pictures of. She so enjoyed this that instead of writing the next day she just went out to take pictures and continued to for weeks. When she finally sat down to write again the words came easily. Now, I know, we don’t all have this luxury, to take weeks walking around snapping pictures, but this can be put into practice in small ways. As a stuck songwriter I have gone outside and sat on a bench and just tried drawing a tree. As a stuck lyric writer I have switched to writing a short poem (they may seem too close to count as something different but they’re not). I’ve tried the snapping pictures thing as well. My focus is on the more traditional arts but you should know what fields are tangential to yours. Pursue them for a little while.

Ultimately, I believe creativity springs from wonderment and anything that helps you tap into that feeling will propel your creativity. I think you could even tap into it this just by watching children play. Children are like creative amplifiers and speak to a state that we all have come from. Watching their minds work is like returning to that place.

So I wish you luck in overcoming whatever blocks you experience. And remember, the people succeeding are not necessarily the brightest or the most brilliant, they are just the ones doing it, day after day after day. Good luck!

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans@Next2Friends.com
www.Next2Friends.com