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How to Get out of a Creative Rut

In a rut? Top tips for getting your creative juices flowing

By Jaime Hunter Published 4 years ago 3 min read
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If you’re a creative, you’ve no doubt had that feeling before. All your ideas have dried up, you can’t think of how to further your existing pieces of work, or perhaps you’re constantly getting stuck with writers’ block. So what can you do to get yourself out of this bad run of form and get you firing on all cylinders in your creative work again? Well, there are a few things you can do.

Have a Change of Scene

Sometimes having the same, constant environmental factors around you isn’t good for stimulating creative ideas. So you might need to switch things up, but what does that mean exactly? Well, it can mean as little as moving things around in your office or going to a different coffee shop than your usual. If you get into a pattern, you’ll continue to observe and notice the same things, which isn’t necessarily a great thing if you’re constantly looking for stimulation to create new, unique ideas. Sometimes though, a break away can do you good. Just getting away from your normal life and visiting somewhere different, or just taking the time off from creating to lie down on a sun lounger next to a pool, can offer alternative perspectives which could in turn aid your creative endeavours.

However, there are quite a few costs associated with travelling abroad, but with the help of Parking at Airports, they can help save you money. They specialise in finding you great deals on airport car parking (which is especially useful if you need to drive to the airport before departure), as well as having a number of other great holiday-related deals, so you can make the most of any journey away you might take.

Try Other Creative Processes

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, not that you would ever want to though. For the uninitiated, it’s a saying which means there are several ways of doing things. If you’re an artist who likes to leap straight onto the canvas, it might be time to look for another approach if you’re struggling. Get you sketch book out, go on a walk, scribble down things you come across. If you’re a novelist who likes to dive straight in and discover the story as you go, then mix it up. Maybe have a rough plan, or maybe start from the very last chapter and work your way backwards.

Mixing up how we work can offer new perspectives, and if you’re in a bit of a rut, reworking how you do things is a good way for re-finding that spark of when you first started and were new to your current process. What was it that Einstein said? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. So try something new and that might just stop you going insane over your creative stumbling blocks. But do you know what’s even more insane? Einstein never said that. If you’re looking for some procrastination before you have to get back to work, have a look at some of these other widely misattributed quotes.

Take a Step Back

Sometimes this isn’t as easy to do, especially if you have to be creative for your job or if you have an impending deadline, but sitting in front of a screen staring at a blank word document or sitting at your desk with a whole load of unused art equipment isn’t going to help you to be more creative. It’s similar in the change of scene advice in a way, but if you find yourself struggling, sometimes you have to step away from something and come back to it later. In the meantime, stimulate yourself with what you love doing. It might be related to your field, such as reading comic books or playing your favourite PS4 game, or it could be completely unrelated, like baking a batch of brownies or taking your dog on a walk. Alternatively, it could be an excuse to broaden your horizons and to discover a completely new hobby. Just take a look at what you could get into for next to no money.

So there you go, just a few ways in which you can try to bust the writers’ block, overcome the sense of you repeating yourself and the feeling that creatively you have nothing new to offer. So why not give these tips a go to see how you get on in overcoming your creative lull? You can do it, we believe in you.

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