Itâs midwinter, and thereâs a whole lot of crazy (and distracting) (and heavy) stuff going on. If youâre struggling with creative block â FELT. Yes, even immortal mastermind creatives like us struggle to come up with ideas sometimes.
Don’t worry. We’ve got your back.Â
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: âIt wonât judge you, troll you, or talk back to you. It wonât spy on you, ping you, or notify you.â Ideas, good or bad, arenât 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 Burkemanâs essay, âStop Multitasking, No Really – Just Stop It,â he urges readers to âidentify the small tricks you use to avoid being fully present with whatever youâre doing.â 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. Youâre 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 đ
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 donât 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, weâre 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: âIdeas 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, youâve got to go deeper. Down deep, the fish are more powerful and more pure. Theyâre huge and abstract. And theyâre very beautiful.â Weâre just gonna leave that there for you to think about.
