It’s midwinter, and there’s a whole lot of crazy (and distracting) (and heavy) stuff going on. If you’re struggling with creative block — FELT. Yes, even immortal mastermind creatives like us struggle to come up with ideas sometimes.
Don’t worry. We’ve got your back.
Keep scrolling for our list of 6 tips on how to come up with ideas when you have none!
1. Find a good place to have bad ideas.
Author and artist Austin Kleon stresses the importance of having a notebook or sketchbook. He says: “It won’t judge you, troll you, or talk back to you. It won’t spy on you, ping you, or notify you.” Ideas, good or bad, aren’t doing much of anything floating around in your head. Make them physical and give them weight.
2. Put yourself in their shoes.
Imagine you were the person seeing your idea after you had followed it to its execution. What would impress you? What would you feel was lacking? How would they interact with it? After considering these perspectives, work backwards to refine your original idea.
3. One step at a time.
In Oliver Burkeman’s essay, “Stop Multitasking, No Really – Just Stop It,” he urges readers to “identify the small tricks you use to avoid being fully present with whatever you’re doing.” He argues that multitasking reinforces the belief that you can only tolerate the activity by distracting yourself. It makes it less enjoyable. Stop thinking you can do everything, that you can be in two places at once. You’re only human!
4. Pick your battles.
Are you holding yourself to a standard that is ultimately unreachable given your time limit, energy levels, or the value of this project? Sometimes, you really can just go with your first idea. Pace yourself. Pick your battles. Maybe you can give 50% on this task, so that you can be ready to give 100% on one that really, really matters.
5. Touch grass 🙂
Really. A walk, fresh air, sunlight… they can be grounding forces to our brains! Ever notice how some of your best ideas come to you when you’re on a walk? A 2014 Stanford study found that walking can boost your creative output by 60%. Here in Rochester, we don’t get a huge amount of sunny, warm weather this time of year. But even the shock of cool winter air or the smell of rain can help you reset. Besides, we’re not machines– breaks from work are healthy and should be encouraged.
6. Go fish!
In his book, Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, David Lynch wrote: “Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. They’re huge and abstract. And they’re very beautiful.” We’re just gonna leave that there for you to think about.
