Common Creative Blocks & How To Overcome Them - "I Don't Know HOW To Create Anymore"

Sometimes when we wish to create, it’s not the lack of willingness that’s the issue.

However much you long to unleash your creativity, that fact is there are times it feels like the hardest thing in the world.

Invisible blocks stop you dead in your tracks and you can’t see a way to get going again.

So you end up feeling frustrated, dejected and disillusioned with creating completely.

There are a variety of types of creative block, and many reasons behind them. The most important first step is to recognise them, then you can begin to take action to overcome them.

Here’s one of the most common creative blocks and some tips on how you can overcome it:

Creative Block: “I don’t know HOW to create anymore”.

How you know when you’re experiencing it:

You used to create regularly and freely, whatever your favourite types of creative media were. Slowly, and almost imperceptibly, you began creating less and less, as other parts of your life took over.

Now, having realised how little you create – if you create at all – you want to get back to creating like you used to.

The major block however is that you doubt you CAN create like you used to. You’re afraid of trying, because the not knowing is less painful than knowing outright that you can’t create like you used to.

Trying, and then “failing”, would be too difficult to bear, so you don’t even attempt to, and this is the root of your creative block.

Tips to overcome this type of creative block:

The most effective way to overcome this kind of creative block is to start small and gradually build up your “creative muscles”.

If you were an athlete who hadn’t run a marathon for 5 years, and had barely run at all in the last year, you wouldn’t expect to go out tomorrow and run another marathon.

It’s the same approach with creating.

Here’s 3 simple steps that will help you get back in the creative flow:

Step 1. Choose a form for your daily creative output. This could be a journal entry, a small sketch in a pocket notebook, or a few lines of poetry. Something easy to get into.

Step 2. Commit to a time each day to create your daily entry. It needs only be 10 or 15 minutes to start with. Choose a time of day you’re more comfortable with and you can make a regular commitment to. It might be first thing in the morning, last thing at night, or at lunch. Do whatever’s practical for your creative life.

What’s MOST important is that you show up to create at your regular timeslot and create SOMETHING everyday. It doesn’t matter if it’s one line of writing or three lines of a sketch.

You’ve showed up, you’ve created. You’ve proved you can do it.

Step 3. Repeat, build and expand. After a week or two of creating regularly, start to build up the time you create for, and the amount you create. Like the athlete in training for the marathon builds the distance they run over time, do the same for you creativity.

In just a few weeks, if you commit to your daily creativity you’ll start to see amazing results in both your creative confidence, and in finding what you want to create again.

Feeling “I don’t know how to create anymore” is just one of the most common creative blocks we experience.

Use the tips above to experiment and begin to overcome this form of creative block. Very soon you’ll feel once more how you’ve begun to unleash your creativity.

Learn more about how to unleash YOUR creativity by signing up to "Create Create!" - Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin's free twice monthly ezine. Do it today, and get your FREE copy of the “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at http://www.CoachCreative.com