Five reasons you have creators’ block and how to find your flow again

Because being blocked up doesn’t feel good . . .

Photo by Christopher Ruel on Unsplash

The root cause: commodified creativity

Call it what you will—writers’ block; creators’ block; feeling uninspired; a general “meh” feeling. This is something every creator will face at some point in their career or hobby.

Creators’ block is normal, but that doesn’t mean that it needs to be accepted or endured.

Being blocked up stinks! (ha, pun intended)

As creators, we all want to maximise our output and create as much, and as best we can, using the least possible time and resources. So a blockage is the last thing we want. But ironically, this hustle approach is exactly what causes blockages in the first place.

With so much pressure on creators to maximise outputs and be constantly creating work that can be monetised— by the algorithm, society, capitalism, clients, and those cynical folk who told you that “you can’t make a career out of your art” — it’s no wonder we’re all blocked up and burnt out!

In an ideal world, creativity wouldn’t be commodified. We’d all be free to create whatever, wherever and whenever we pleased. Words, colours, notes, flavours, expressions and personalities would all be jumbled up expressed at will.

Unfortunately, the real world doesn’t work this way. In the real world, ideas are required 24/7, even when there aren’t any. It’s like drawing blood, sweat and tears from a stone.

So while we’re stuck here, desperately trying to commodify our creativity, here are five things that cause creative blockages, and five ways to eliminate them and get those creative juices (or was that blood, sweat and tears?) flowing again.

Five reasons you might be blocked, and how to fix it

1. You’re crippled by your own perfectionism

Sometimes, being a perfectionist is obvious—necessary, even (insert hyper-photo-realistic art here). But sometimes it shows up in less obvious ways. You’ll know you have a perfectionistic streak if you’ve ever said the following:

• “This isn’t good enough to share so I’m not going to post it”

• “This doesn’t fit my niche or aesthetic so I’m not going to post it”

• “I need a whole day with no interruptions to create properly”

• “I need to research more before I start”

• “I don’t have the right equipment”

Sometimes these reasons are legitimate, but usually they’re just excuses that lead to creators’ block.

Solution 1: Figure out if the limiting beliefs you are telling yourself are true, and then start thinking and affirming the opposite about yourself.

Solution 2: Set a 10 minute timer and force yourself to create anything (literally anything at all) before it beeps. Often, it will create enough momentum to keep the flow going. And if not, well, bad art is a fantastic teacher.

2. You’re exhausted by decision fatigue

This is especially problematic for multi-disciplinary creatives who work in more than one medium or industry. With multiple projects on the go at once—ranging from the ideation phase to the delivery phase—it can be overwhelming to get anything finished. Cue creator’s block.

Trying to decide what to do first, and for how long, can sap all your enthusiasm and energy before you even start, leaving you burnt-out and resentful.

Solution: Pick just one project and give yourself a realistic time limit to get it done. Then focus on that, and that alone, for the time period. If the other work needs pushing back, so be it (better a late deadline than no delivery at all)! Then repeat this process until all projects are finished . . . and try not to take on even more work during this process, won’t you?

3. You lack creative freedom

Creators who work for a company, and whose work is owned by that company under a contract, will understand the unique pain of working within limited branding guidelines or having all their work owned by someone else. Blockages are so common in this space.

Without going as far as jumping on the popular “quit the 9 to 5” bandwagon, it is important to find creative fulfilment in at least one aspect of your life. And if it’s not your career (the thing you spend the majority of your waking life doing), it’s worth re-thinking your priorities.

Ask yourself: Do I have time to start a side-hustle? Can I work fewer hours (even if that means a wage cut) and start a side-hustle? Can I negotiate with my boss some unique projects to work on, that are more creatively fulfilling? Can I establish a two-year plan for quitting my job?

Throughout this questioning process, there is one condition you must accept: don’t expect everything to change tomorrow.

Don’t quit your job just because the project you’re currently working on is brain-numbingly dry. Make sure your reason for seeking creative fulfilment elsewhere is a legitimate response to a pattern of discontentment and long-term lack of inspiration. These things take time.

Solution: Ask yourself where, why and how long you’ve been feeling restricted. Make a list of pros and cons, or gratitudes and difficulties, about your current situation or employment. Try to be as objective as possible and keep a two to five-year scope in mind.

4. You set unrealistic standards for yourself

For creatives trying to maximise their output, it’s common to set daily routines or systems that build toward a larger goal, e.g.: “Write a thousand words today”, or “Create three digital artworks for Instagram today”.

But we often like to bite off more than we can chew.

Setting audacious goals (that we neither have the time nor resources to complete) may feel exciting for a moment, but it is a recipe for defeat. Knowing deep down that we can’t achieve these goals makes us afraid or hesitant to start in the first place, and this blocks creativity.

So rather than trying to heap a truck-full of to-dos onto our plates, a better approach is to nibble slowly.

Solution: Figure out what your bare minimum is and then do that consistently.

Practically, that might be sitting at your computer and opening a word document (tick!) or spending five minutes before bed sketching anything at all (tick!). Just make sure it’s feasible and can be easily integrated into your daily routine.

5. You’re allowing external measures to value your art

This one can cause soul-sucking creative blockages, but it’s something we are not often conscious of.

The world today is obsessed with measuring the worth of products by external standards: monetary value, number of likes or followers, celebrity status. And to make matters worse, the relentless algorithm essentially puts a 24-hour time limit on how long it takes you to achieve this so-called “worth”.

You’ve fallen into this trap if you’ve ever said the following:

• How many social media posts can I create from this piece of art/writing?

• I need to turn my creations into Instagram reels/Tik-Toks to get traction!

• I need to post every day or I won’t get any followers!

• Does this creation fit into the niche/aesthetic that my followers like?

• This post didn’t get many likes, so it’s not good.

• That artist/writer has so many more followers/likes than me! Look at how successful they are!

The list goes on.

In doing this, what we fail to remember is that art is subjective. The value of poetry, prose, music or art cannot be measured by how many people stop to admire it, or how many likes or followers it receives. In fact, these objective measures devalue works of art by narrowing how we define the concept of “value” in the first place.

The longer we spend measuring the worth of our work using flawed, objective statistics, the more blocked-up we will become. Rather than creating for the sake of it, or creating something that is true to our identity, we start making art that we think will become popular.

Of course, this is once again ignoring the reality that commodifying and popularising creativity is necessary for many people to survive. But there are ways we can subtly combat this.

Solution 1: If creating is your job and means of income, take 15 minutes a day to start a personal side project that you feel passionate about, that no one needs to see. Doing something different to what is usually in your niche can free up your mind to think outside the box and incorporate new ideas into your work.

Of course, there is no perfect, one-size-fits-all solution to finding creative flow. However, most of the time when we lack inspiration, it is the result of unhealthy subconscious belief systems or a poor understanding of our personal limits.

By setting better physical and mental boundaries around our work; by believing that our work has inherent value and that we don’t have to restrict ourselves to the value constructs around us, we can find new freedom.

And it is in freedom—true, unbridled freedom—that our best creativity sparks!

Until next time,