Blast Through a Creative Block: Just Do It
Author Savage BrandsCategories Innovation
Folks who work in creative roles are all too familiar with the idea of creative block, but you don’t have to be in a traditionally creative role to experience a lack of creativity just when you need it most. By any name – writer’s block, designer’s doldrums, accounting apathy, marketing malaise, programmer’s procrastination – the frustrating lack of inspiration is just as hard.
There are thousands of suggestions for how to generate creativity, and you could spend the better part of a year working through all of those suggestions while your problem or project sits undone. But I have a better way to overcome creative block: power through it.
Whatever project is looming up, just start it.
In reality, there’s no going under, over or around a creative block. The only way to break through it is to sit down and start that project, task or piece that’s giving you trouble. Start writing words, drawing lines, typing code - whatever it takes to get a toehold on the project. Once you do, the ideas will start coming to you.
The real enemy in ”creative block” is not a lack of inspiration; it’s procrastination. A blank page kills the creative juices. The longer that creative pursuit is shelved for lack of imagination, the harder it will be to start it. It’s easier to move an object already in motion forward than it is to get the momentum started.
By taking the first step - even if that first step is just formatting a document so you know what your project will look like or gathering research materials - you give yourself permission to start the ideas flowing. The initial idea or ideas may not be the best, but once you’re moving, you can start to sort out the “good stuff.”
Not convinced that powering through the block is the right choice? Check out The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. He asserts that blasting past procrastination is a great way to hop creative roadblocks.
So, if you’re currently battling a creative block, remember that your true enemy is procrastination, and just do it.
Savage Brands believes in unleashing the good inherent within all organizations. Business results are driven by connecting with people at the belief level. That’s why we align everything a company says and does with its Purpose through a proven process that links strategy and execution with “why.” We solve the challenges corporate America faces by building tribal loyalty from the inside out, focusing on people first to deliver authentic brand experiences. Savage builds purposeful brands, communications, leaders and cultures.
