Whether you work from home or in a traditional office, creativity block has a way of sneaking up on you and hampering your job. For people whose line of career has creative inclinations, experiencing block is more than just frustrating. It can be a threat to your source of income and relationship with clients as well.
What then should you do when you feel jammed up and there’s a looming deadline to beat?
Before ditching your work station and going out for a coffee, which is what many would advise you to do, it pays to get down to the root of the matter.
There are different kinds of blocks that can put your creativity to a halt. You would do well to know what these types are so that you can come up with the best solution to your particular situation.
1. The Mental Barrier
You can be a highly skilled writer and still grope for the right words that best convey your ideas. There are different reasons why you come face to face with this type of block. You could be looking at a situation too closely, you may have been too accustomed to your way of thinking that unlearning this perspective is a challenge, or a critical voice inside your head overrides your imagination.
What You Can Do:
Change your mind – or if that is too much of a start, at least challenge your way of thinking. Tease the idea you are playing with by asking What If questions. If you have been hunching over your desk for hours, it’s time to stretch and take a walk outside. There’s nothing like treating your senses with a new environment to rearrange the ideas inside your head.
2. Personal Issues
Employees sometimes miss work because they must deal with issues at home. Others have to give up their career altogether because the balancing act between work and personal life is too much to juggle. It’s tough to keep your mind at work when it keeps wandering to your sick child at home, the piling up bills, or the arrangements you need to make for moving.
What You Can Do:
Apparently, there is no single all-purpose solution to deal with personal problems. But you can take either of the following routes:
- Solve the problem at hand.
- Find coping measures until the issue passes.
There’s no reason to worry or be intimidated when you’re facing the prospect of leaving your company to deal with personal issues. You can always make money online from companies that value flexibility in the work schedule.
3. Emotional Blocks
The act of creating can get intense. You may get too caught up in the book you are writing. The topic for your blog post may have hit a nerve too close to home. You may be too emotionally delicate to find inspiration for drawing or web designing. Whatever the case may be, the state of your emotions can get you stumped.
What You Can Do:
Recognize the source of this barrier. Fear of failure can freeze you up, procrastination keeps you from being sharp, and being overwhelmed will not bring out your best ideas.
Establish a routine, stick to your schedule, and set small goals that will help get you through the day. When the obstruction that you’re dealing with has an emotional nature, taking small steps will help you inch through the finish line.
Different people have different ways of avoiding creativity block every day. By understanding why you’re feeling jammed, you’re already halfway through getting your creative genius to work.