Block your Creative Block!

As a creative apart from getting design suggestions like “make it pop” in every other design, facing a creative block is the second most irritating experience!

You are just sitting with a blank page waiting for ideas to arrive, you even made a magic potion for it (coffee).. still nothing, not a doorbell ringing. The thing is having a creative block is absolutely normal but if you’re waiting for some magic to happen without moving or taking action first, you might not have an end date to clearing that block of yours.

Why this creates a deadlock..

You are waiting for that creative block to go without moving or taking action while in order to remove that block action is needed so you’re basically stuck.

Going deeper into why Creative Block became your Guest

In order to fix the problem we must find the root cause. There are numerous reasons why a creative block arrives, one of the main reasons are excessive scrolling or mindless internet consumption, reduced or no creation at all, disconnection from self, nature and reality.

How do we remove our Creative block ?

Let’s take a simple example, you’ve been given a task of creating a logo in 4 days, it’s day 2 and you’re waiting for your creative block to go away as you have a deadline, now you either panic or take steps to remove your block, the option is quite clear ain’t it? so let’s explore the latter option

Steps to remove Creative Block:

1. Cut off from social media or any electronic device from which you are over consuming : when you overconsume your mind has no extra space to create or even think of something new, make space for stuff.

2. Sit in silence/boredom: Often the best ideas arrive when you are not actively thinking about the task , in silence your mind will wander, direct it in the path of your ideation so you get fresh ideas.

3. Silence your Mind : In order for your mind to become silent you can meditate / connect with nature / be in the present moment.

4. Listen to a song and draw/ doodle the lyrics: This is my personal favorite step, example : song by Ekkstacy “I walk this Earth all by myself “ and you draw yourself holding the hands of planet earth and going on a fun walk. This step removes your scroll slop in your mind and opens pathways for extraordinary creativity while having fun.

While you try these steps make sure to keep a paper notepad with you, why I suggested a paper notepad and not the notes app in your phone is because we don’t want our social media muscle memory to kick in with the scrolling do we ?

so if you try these steps you will observe gentle thoughts / ideas coming into your head, it could be one word , a connection of words leading to an idea or in some cases an entire idea in itself!! You will find the entire process quite joyful and refreshing.

After generating multiple ideas you can quickly dial down on one concept and go on with your creative process.

Hope I could help you with my way of dealing with a Creative Block, if this article helped you in any way please do share it with your fellow creatives so we can collectively remove these blocks into a blackhole.

Doodles and image credits — my drawing diary and rough copy :p

Author - Prachi Khetwal