It’s not uncommon for me to receive texts from people saying they experience burnout and go through stress when it comes to their creativity. Especially if their creativity is also their means of income. It can be quite challenging for people to show up every day when they experience this kind of block.

I remember someone telling me, “How do I get out the writer’s block?” I instantly responded, “you write anyway” and it was difficult for her to comprehend. How can one show up if one is stuck? How can one get ideas if they’re stuck? And it’s understandable. It can be difficult to move and think when creativity is blocked or one feels unmotivated.

I’ve been working with creatives for the past 10 years now. And based on my professional experience I’ve seen that these few tips have helped my clients break that stagnation and slowly get back to that creative phase.

Do it for yourself first –

It can get a bit difficult to separate the passion from the profession and sometimes it’s the profession that tends to cause unnecessary stress. When we try to create something from a place of responsibility and the burden of deadlines or perfection or fear of failure, we can’t experience that free will of making something just because. Creation requires a calm mindset and it requires space for trial and error. Creatives, from my experience, are not particularly afraid of failing, they know it’s a part of creativity. Though they do get caught up in the web of perfection, deadlines are not something they’re particularly fond of. This causes a lot of blockages in their ideas and they eventually don’t feel like showing up. Irrespective of whether you’re trying to do something professionally or maybe even to showcase on social media (podcasters, YouTubers, influencers) try to do it just for yourself first. Put yourself before your clients/customers/followers/viewers etc., Do it just for your happiness without the pressure of others. Creatives tend to work from a place of their vibe and feel. You may never want to go ahead if you don't feel it. Your feelings will be reflected in anything you create. So, try to do it for yourself first.

Start small –

If you’re getting back to creating, start small. Instead of trying to do everything at once try to take it one step at a time. Usually, when you get back to creating something, there’s a rush of energy and motivation that makes you want to do a lot of things at once. And you perhaps want to finish the entire project at once. This tends to cause exhaustion; when you come back the next day, you barely have the energy left. Ideally, it’s good to take it slow and take it one day at a time. It’s good to start small and build slowly. Starting small also helps build consistency and with practice you regain confidence. When you do this, you leave space for more, which can help you come back easily to do the work that matters. Start small and leave space for more.

Balance the ratio of creation and consumption –

We tend to consume a lot of content every day and while it’s essential to do research it can sometimes get very overwhelming. Every content you absorb tends to take a lot of your mental space; therefore, instead of inspiring you, it drains you or you tend to start competing and eventually drain yourself which causes creative exhaustion and block. In my opinion, what might help is to balance out that ratio by filtering the data you take in every day. Being more mindful about what you consume daily via books/social media/people leaves space for creativity. I hear my clients talk a lot about how they get influenced when they look at all the work their contemporaries are doing and it often leads to comparison. It’s understandable to want to be the best and want to do incredible work but if we remember the balance, we need to maintain, we may cope with creative blocks peacefully.

These are of course very simple tips that you may have heard before but they’ve been very helpful with my clients as well as in my creative blocks. I hope these simple tips help you slowly create again.