3 Tips to Overcome Creative Road Blocks
1. Manufacture Creativity
Manufacturing creativity has long been an obsession of mine. When starting a new project, I ask myself how I can replicate the moments when my creative work was of the highest quality.
It turns out that ritual is the name of the game. Like professional athletes, you learn what works best for you, then reuse those best lessons in your future efforts.
Create a list of actions you perform, in no particular order, that will get you back to those times when genius strikes. Certainly, creativity is different for everyone, but here is a list of steps, or tricks, that work well for me:
Sketch, and sketch some more
Work very early in the morning (or very late)
Change up your work environment
Caffeine and blinders
Work to a deadline (or a series of deadlines)
Get into a State of Flow
During Flow, your muscle memory takes over. While your brain relaxes, your skills heighten. These flow state moments almost always produce a high quantity of work.
2. Avoid Creative “Burn out”
I actually experience creative “burn out” fairly often. After a busy start to the year with high ambitions, exhaustion sets in and I begin to wonder if design is still my calling. Thankfully, I’ve navigated these waters enough times to know that I’m just in a rut and I need to follow a few steps to jumpstart my creative muscles again. The key to avoiding creative “burn out” is starting a new hobby, usually a creative skill.
The person who wins (or is most successful) is not the one who is the best at what they do, but the person who is able to stay motivated the longest. Consistent motivation means you’re consistently creating which is the key.
I somewhat purposefully take on hobbies that are creative to give me a wider design perspective and add skills to my tool belt. I few examples of creative hobbies include:
Studio & lifestyle photography
Redesigning packaging labels for existing products in your home
Leaning CAD to design in 3D
Painting with texture (plaster on canvas)
Illustrating cartoons over photos
Video editing
After a few weeks of learning a new skill or establishing hobby, connections to your client work start to form (in my case, brand identity projects). You’ll then be eager to incorporate your newly learned techniques with previously honed skills. Rather than slowly pulling yourself out of the creative rut, you slingshot back into your old rhythm with newfound enthusiasm.
3. Shift Your Mindset, Track Your Progress
Lastly, a shift in perspective is always helpful. My good friend Jeffrey Zucker and I talk a lot about “Zooming in and Zooming out”. What we’re really saying is that it's important to step back and look big picture sometimes. Most creatives, especially graphic designers, spend so much time zoomed way in, nudging anchor points one pixel at a time. It’s important to Zoom out and look at your successes and accomplishments for the year, versus staying in the weeds and focusing on minute details and minor tasks.
“Measure the gain not the gap” is a theory and book written by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. The phrase more literally means to celebrate your achievements instead of stressing over your to-do list. The goal is to realize and track your many small achievements over the past month or year. When you take a step back and realize your achievements, your motivation will be invigorated and your goals will seam less daunting as you continue to climb, one step at a time. This practice is similar to writing down your daily gratitudes which is a time tested method to improving your overall happiness.
Additional Creative Tips
If you have any additional tips and tricks to breaking through your creative roadblocks, I’d love to hear about them. My name is Wells Collins and I am a logo and brand designer in Denver, Colorado. Whether you are looking to update your company’s branding, refresh an existing logo mark, or just shoot the breeze, I would love to talk success with you!
