be-creative

 

This is a guest post by Megan Petersen of Beading for Business.

When you’re in the business of being a creative, you don’t have the luxury of only creating when you feel like it. You are required to be creative almost every single day, and sometimes the well of creativity you draw from runs dry or your initial inspiration disappears. So what can you do? Projects have deadlines and products need to be created in order for you to have enough inventory to sell. When you can’t afford to take a break, but are still drawing a blank, there is one simple thing you can do to get your creativity going again.

Even though it may seem counter-intuitive at first, one of the quickest way to jump-start your creative brain-pathways is to set up limitations or boundaries on your creative tasks.

For example, if you are stuck coming up with a new lines of seasonal products, you can assign the boundary that all of the items need to be made with the color blue, or that the entire collection needs to be nautical-themed. Having a list of random “homework-esque” assignments on hand for when you’re feeling lax in the development stage will ensure that you never run out of ideas for what to make.

Similarly, setting limitations on your marketing tasks can have the same effect. You could, for example, assign all of June’s blog posts to be travel-themed, or every Facebook post in July to include an inspirational quote.

By setting up a theme or direction, now you know exactly what you need to do to get started, or at least, have a general sense of where to go.

If you’re still struggling to get going, set up a time limitation for your creative task.

For example, work on blogging for 25 minutes from 9:00 to 9:25 a.m., and only for 25 minutes. Knowing you have to work on a creative task for only a short, set amount of time makes the idea of working on it less daunting. Even if you only come up with a couple of choked paragraphs, at least you’ll have some content to work off of during your next session.

Still procrastinating?

Switch to a “no-brainer” task for a short time to take your mind off of it. Likely, your subconscious will come up with the solution to your motivational problems while it’s getting some much-needed rest. (Just remember that social media doesn’t count as a “no-brainier” task, preferably pick something that doesn’t involve a screen to fully switch your brain over into another mode, such as organizing your craft supplies or walking the dog.) This is why so many people come up with brilliant ideas in the shower or while exercising. Sometimes all it takes is a little rest for your brain to re-fill its creative juices.

Now I’d like to hear from you!

What tips can you share for pumping out creative work even when inspiration is on vacation? Share them in the comments below!

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