If you are a creative person, be it in film, music, literature, or other creative roles, you probably experience periods where you are constantly creating. Your mind races with a bunch of ideas at a time, and you have to get them out. You do your best to put out work, after work, after work. Then, one day, it all just… stops.
And you’re left staring at a blank canvas, wondering where to begin or even what to do.
That is something that can be described as a creative block, where you feel like you’ve hit a wall. And unfortunately, in these moments, you’re unable to keep pushing forward. You actually need to take a step back and reassess what is causing the ‘blockage’ and take steps to counter it.
CAUSES:
- Paradox of Choice: having too many things to choose from leads to decision-anxiety. Thus, resulting in no decision being made because of being overwhelmed.
- Mental health: if your mental health is spiraling or you’re suffering from anxiety, then you may struggle to come up with fresh ideas or continue and hopefully finish your work in progress. Furthermore, if you are mentally exhausted, either from a lack of sleep, diet, or exercise routine, you could also struggle to think or create.
- Stress: be it in your personal life, academics, career, or externally. This can and will hinder your ability to fully be present and focus on what you are creating.
- Fear of Failure: This often comes from unrealistic expectations you set for yourself. For instance, you released a song on Spotify, and within its first week, you received 20,000 listeners. That pressure to create an even better one can dampen the creative process and result in nothingness. With that fearful mindset, it becomes difficult to shift your mind from “I want to create something even better” to “I am creating because this is what I enjoy doing.”
- Perfectionism: the desire to create an outstanding product puts too much pressure on yourself and can dampen your own writing or drawing because all you are thinking about is fixing every little thing instead of going with the flow and letting it take shape.
- Personal issues: things like being diagnosed with an illness, moving houses, going through a breakup, changing careers — these all may hinder your ability to focus and be creative.
- Environment: living in loud (or too quiet) places, children, juggling family life and other things. These distract you and lead to no productivity.
Think about all the money you’re wasting while you are staring into space like an idiot
Claire Dederer
Other causes include:
- Lack of experience
- Lack of inspiration
- Lack of ideas
- Overthinking
WAYS TO OVERCOME:
A lot of creative people go through this more often than you may think. Thus, there are a lot of methods and guides set in place to help you climb out of that rut and continue being the creative genius that you are. Some of these are:
- Diversify inspiration sources: if you are a writer, you may want to listen to new music in order to get ideas for scenes, plots, and storylines. You could also read more, watch more films, and even use everyday events or conversations to jumpstart your writing.
- Collaborate: seek other people’s advice on what to do and how to continue. Show your work to a few close friends and ask them about their opinion, and maybe that could give you a fresh perspective. Sometimes we look at something so much that we no longer see its beauty, and it takes a fresh pair of eyes to point out what is and isn’t working. There are various platforms for creatives online, and people often offer to review and give feedback on one another’s work. Take advantage of that—be careful of completely changing your idea. But hey! If you feel you have to change the idea altogether, absolutely go for it!
- Take a break: yes, even while you are facing your block, you still have to take a break. Intentionally set aside time to relax, unwind, and look at something new. Constantly staring at a blank canvas is not going to give you the spark to pick up the paintbrush. Rather go to the art gallery, go on a marathon, or go on a safari… Anything to get your mind off creating completely. Once you return, you will be bursting with fresh ideas.
- Change of scenery: whether it’s working in a new room, new office or completely new city (bit drastic, but okay.) Designers swear that a new environment unlocks fresh creativity. The emotional and psychological effects on you may benefit your creative thinking and allow you to pick up where you left off.
More ways of overcoming:
- Note down every idea that comes to mind. And leave it be. Don’t expand on it, just note it down as your day unfolds. At the end, you will have pages full of raw ideas.
- Don’t attempt to replicate or recreate. You can’t repurpose inspiration. In the same way, you shouldn’t try to one-up your own work. Just create something new.
- Go off script. Go off from what the client’s brief said and see what you can create for them. Turn that romance novel into a thriller and see where that takes you.
Understanding that creative block is a natural part of the creative process helps designers navigate it with patience and grace. Just as the tides ebb and flow, creativity has its seasons of abundance and moments of reflection.
Anila Hasnain.
With all these said, hopefully you have an idea of how to identify common causes of creative block and simple ways to tackle it. It all starts with a routine and tackling the causes one at a time. When it feels too heavy, take a step back, reassess the environment and the conditions, and perhaps involve other creatives into your journey.
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