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Most artists know that creative work is far from an easy process or a smooth ride. It's filled with bumps and curves, ups and downs, and every now and then, some kind of rut. Based on advice and suggestions from various sources and professionals in different creative fields, we've put together a list of ways to break down those creative barriers. Whether you're a writer, designer, artist, or just looking for some way to get inspired, here are 20 Ways to Get Rid of Creative Blocks. If these aren't enough, check out Get Unstuck: Creative Block, which has advice and projects from 50 successful artists.
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Get some serotonin.
According to neuroeconomist Baba Shiv, the science behind tapping into your creative side involves high levels of feel-good serotonin. In an article in Stanford Business, he explains that at least 30 minutes of deep sleep, a high protein breakfast with coffee, and cardiovascular exercise will boost serotonin levels.
Practice yoga.
Writer Deanne Stillman says that yoga helps her "move through" writer's block. In an interview with Advice To Writers, she said, "Some of the positions are literally about going as far as you're comfortable going and then pushing a bit more," which is a bit like pumping out creative content. She continues, "When all else fails, I'll have a glass of champagne. That has nothing to do with writer's block but why not?"
Take a shower.
There's something about showers that relieves stress while letting your thoughts flow freely. But sometimes you forget your brightest ideas as soon as you step out of the water. Don't throw ideas out with the bathwater. Write them down on a waterproof notepad instead.
Give yourself a head massage.
Creative blocks often come from worrying about finishing a project. Calm your nerves and get those creative juices flowing with this scalp massager. It helps to improve the blood circulation to your brain and eliminate nervous anxiety. An article in The Guardian investigates the positive effects of massages: "It does seem massage can give you a mood boost or help you through tough times by temporarily relieving stress and anxiety."
Make a list of what wouldn't happen next.
One of Pixar's 22 rules of storytelling includes the advice, "When you're stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of material to get you unstuck will show up." Even if you can't get to the next step in a project, at least you can scale down your options.
Create crap, or take one.
In Bird by Bird, a book filled with tips on writing, author Anne Lamott dedicates a chapter to "Shitty First Drafts." She writes, "All good writers write them. This is how the end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts."
Taking Lamott's advice more literally, it's true that some of the best ideas come to us on the can. Part of that comes from placing yourself in a different environment, and we tend not to over-think in the bathroom. Maybe it's some sort of "empty bladder/empty mind" situation, or perhaps it's the comfortable toilet seat that inspires your wit.
When you can't create, you can work.
One of Henry Miller's 11 Commandments of Writing and Daily Routine states, "When you can't create, you can work." Rather than waiting for ideas to come, just get started on something. It's in the act of making that allows you to reshape your thoughts. As E. B. White said, "A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper."
Switch to a different task or medium.
If you typically work with acrylic paint, try watercolor. Instead of prose, write poetry. Sculptor Adam Wallacavage and hand-lettering artist Mary Kate McDevitt are advocates of this method in the book Creative Block: Get Unstuck, Discover New Ideas. For Wallacavage, this means switching to a different activity he enjoys when he's stuck on one thing. "I can always make tentacles if I want. I got kind of good at that, or just photography. I shoot a lot, and I create things to be photographed," he says.
McDevitt, too, finds that "diverting your attention to another activity can help through creative blocks." Activities like cooking and reading, or even stepping away from the project to doodle or make a cup of tea can help to "shake the creative juice loose."
Take a break.
Getting some distance can help one see the proverbial forest instead of just the trees. In the Harvard Business Review, author David Burkus explains why breaks lead to breakthroughs. "When you work on a problem continuously, you can become fixated on previous solutions," he writes. "Taking a break from the problem and focusing on something else entirely gives the mind some time to release its fixation on the same solutions and let the old pathways fade from memory. Then, when you return to the original problem, your mind is more open to new possibilities—eureka moments."
This study also offers hope for those with packed schedules who don't really have the options of taking long walks or hot showers in the middle of a busy workday.
Get some "creative sleep."
Stephen King compares the writing room to the bedroom, and the creative process to a wakeful dream state. He writes, "Your schedule—in at about the same time every day, out when your thousand words are on paper or disk—exists in order to habituate yourself, to make yourself ready to dream just as you make yourself ready to sleep by going to bed at roughly the same time each night and following the same ritual as you go." "Creative sleep" helps us develop our own worlds while doing creative work.
Write heroic couplets.
One way to jolt your creativity is to constrain yourself to one method of expression, like writing poetry. If you're up for a challenge, try making heroic couplets, the primary instrument of satire. Similar to tweets, the short form can lend itself to clarifying what you want to say. It is also a way to build large ideas with very small components.
Focus on the process, not the outcome.
When faced with a big project, it's easy to be overwhelmed, which puts the breaks on one's creative thinking. In providing advice on how to get unstuck, Bryan Waterman, professor of English at New York University and author of Marquee Moon, suggests breaking down the big project into manageable pieces. Start with an outline, or even just a few notes to make looming project a lot less daunting.
Have your heart broken.
It often happens that hardship is the best form of inspiration, and this includes getting over a relationship. In a New Yorkerprofile, Rei Kawakubo, the founder of Comme des Garçons, speaks about a difficult breakup with the love of her life. Judith Thurman writes about the designer, "When a childless single woman nearing fifty suddenly starts to do her best work, she often has a broken heart." The same goes for many lost lovers.
Organize stuff.
In Creative Block: Get Unstuck, Discover New Ideas, American artist Jesse Draxler suggests that you sort through your things as a way to overcome creative blocks. Find random objects in your room and organize them in different ways: stack them up, rest them upon one another, arrange them in a pattern. You're engaging in an exercise of composition, which is integral to any art form. After that, photograph the compositions from several angles. You'll find yourself capturing things you otherwise wouldn't have noticed.
Play pretend.
In Austin Kleon's Steal Like an Artist, he writes: "Creative work is a kind of theater." Dive right into working on your project or problem, pretending that you know what you're doing. Spend at least 15 minutes faking your progress to see what comes of it.
Illustrator Marc Johns recommends, "Stop thinking like a designer or writer or whatever you are for a minute. Pretend you're a pastry chef. Pretend you're an elevator repair contractor. A pilot. A hot dog vendor. How do these people look at the world?"
Be a copycat.
"Nothing is completely original," Austin Kleon writes in Steal Like An Artist. "What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before." Painters learn their trade by painting other masterpieces. Musicians learn how to play instruments by practicing pieces from other artists.
Figure out what inspires you, and try to imitate it. You can develop your own style from there. As Salvador Dalí said, "Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing."
Write it out in longhand.
Sometimes there's nothing like a pen and paper to make you think creatively. You won't have to deal with the anxiety-inducing blinking cursor on your computer screen, which actually makes author Niven Govinden "want to throw up."
Govinden insists that "the physicality of longhand" involves a "greater sense of space" and makes him "write in a more economical way." Writing instead of typing lets the ideas literally flow from your pen.
Get rid of the world.
Stop texting, and get off Facebook. Sometimes you need to rid yourself of all distractions in order to get anything done. Stephen King recommends putting yourself in a space where there's no telephone and no TV. He said, "If there's a window, draw the curtains or pull down the shades unless it looks out at a blank wall."
Proust famously confined himself to his cork-lined bedroom for the last three years of his life. He slept during the day and worked at night. Over time you will begin to filter out distractions naturally, but at the start it's important to take care of them before you begin any creative process. Get rid of the world around you, and you can create your own.
Go crazy with LEGOs.
When you need a tangible sense of how much time you have for getting things done, stack LEGOs. They can act as a counterpoint to your to-do list, visualizing how long it takes for you to complete a task. LEGOs, like doodling, also give you something to fidget with. By letting your mind wander while you create mini cities, you might come up with your best ideas.
Quit worrying.
Remember that it's totally fine to be less than perfect. As Henry Miller states in his 11 Commandments: “Work calmly, joyously, reckless on whatever is in hand.”