It’s sitting at the edge of your frantic brain – the elusive idea you desperately need.
It’s the engagingly delightful tagline for your next social media campaign. It’s the witty title of your next content marketing piece. It’s the unforgettable closing of your upcoming talk that will earn you a standing ovation.
And you have nothing.
We’ve all been there desperately trying to come up with something brilliant but it’s just not there. Your brain is spinning and spinning and it’s not like you’re not trying. And that may be your biggest problem – you’re trying too hard and you’ve killed your creative spark.
It’s hard to realize that sometimes you can’t force creativity. So whether you’re stuck today or next week, here are a few ways to give your tired brain some space for new ideas to enter.
Meditation
There may not be a better off switch for your brain than meditation. And it’s not new-agey anymore. Meditation has gone high-tech! There are tons of cool apps and videos on Youtube that can offer you a few minutes of peace and relaxation.
In Try a Fast Meditation for a Less Stressful Workday, Ella Gibbons explains the many scientific benefits meditation has on our work performance. Meditation not only improves your focus and ability to work under stress, it can also enhance creativity. It may be just the trick you need to calm your mind and unblock your creative juices.
Change Your Environment
I have a very hard time working in the middle of noise and chaos. That’s not surprising, but I also can’t work when my environment is crowded and cluttered. Coming up with anything resembling brilliant is never going to happen when I can’t relax or unwind.
In How Simplicity Can Help Creativity, Briefly, Leo Babauta from Zen Habits shares his thoughts on clutter and distractions:
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“Clear distractions. One of the biggest obstacles to anyone who wants to create these days is the distractions of the Internet, of email and IM, of meetings and people coming up to us to talk to us, of phone calls and Blackberries and iPhones. Clear these out of the way, so you can focus on creating.”
Get rid of distractions, even it’s just for a little while. Work from a quiet location, unclutter your desk and turn off your phone. Give yourself space to think.
Shake Things Up
We don’t know we’re in a rut until we’re actually in a rut. And that impacts our creative thinking. We just get used to the same old things, done the same old way.
In 10 Simple Hacks to Boost Your Creative Output In 2018, Kristen Dunleavy shares:
“Take a cold shower in the morning, put on socks that don’t match or cut your hair in a fun new way. Ultimately, what you do doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you do something to shake things up.”
This may sound a bit too easy, but sometimes a small step out of the ordinary can spark a new idea. Finally, try that hobby you’ve always wanted to learn. Be open to trying something different, even if it’s something small like driving to work a different way.
Get Creative to Get Creative
Some of us need to come up with a constant supply of amazing ideas. Some days it’s like we can’t keep up with the brilliance flowing from our brains. And some days we don’t know why anyone would ever pay us in the first place.
Instead of getting frustrated or stressed out (both hurt our creative spirits), get creative about finding your creativity. It’s just like any other aspect of business so make a strategic plan that has the best chance of success.
And be open to trying something different to jumpstart your broken creativity. It just may how you uncover your best ideas yet.
