Lacking Creativity?

Have you ever gone through a period where you felt like you were stuck?

It could be writers block, no ideas, forcing it, no direction, etc.

This comes up for me as well every  once in a while when I am writing.  Like many, I sit in front of my computer attempting to come up with something, forcing it, and I'm never satisfied with what I produce in this state of mind.  This could be stressful and frustrating because I made a commitment to myself to provide valuable content in several different forms each day of the week, Mon-Friday, to anyone who follows me.  If I have a down week when nothing is coming to mind, I would be so stressed out and beat myself up because I wouldn't be keeping that commitment to myself.  I have learned through trial and error that makes you even more unproductive, and have found some solutions around it that have been very effective.

Something that has proven time and again, to get me out of that funk where I can't seem to create, is to read, or listen to TED talks or something of that nature.  I don't read to"get" ideas.  I read and watch things of interest.  I get back to noticing things.  I watch educational videos.  I watch and listen to people, everywhere in every interaction I have.  I look for lessons, that apply both to life and business.  Even though I consider myself "the student" and always learning and growing myself, I put my "student" cap back on, with an awareness that if I am not creating, I can be learning new things.

Before i know it, I am back in to "flow"....ideas come rushing to mind as if I never had the block at all.  And when this rush starts, I sit at my computer and write and write and write about my ideas.  The really interesting part of this, is when I attempt to force, it can take hours to write an article and I am never happy with it.  Yet, when I am in "flow", I can produce each article in about 5 min., and I rarely change anything about it.

I also produce my material in advance so that if I have a week or two were I can't seem to create, or, if I have other commitments coming up,  I can keep my commitment I have made to myself of bringing valuable content to my followers 5 days a week.  I have a vault, so to speak, of material I have produced that is ready for release.  This allows me to pull from the vault when I have these little down times, without beating myself up.  It also allows me to maintain balance in my life and be present for things that are important in my personal life.  My daughter is having our first grandchild in Oct., so I have been working away filling up that vault of content the first few months of this year while it was cold and snowy, so that I won't miss a beat when the baby comes and I can maintain my schedule even though I will be taking some time off.

Inspiration is fascinating...when we are in an inspired state, it is like someone turned on the tap of ideas....they come fast and furious.  The key is to take advantage of this.  It will take far less time to get the job done when you are in an inspired state of mind.
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Debbie Ruston has been an entrepreneur and trainer since 1986. She works with individuals, and groups interested in developing their entrepreneurial leadership mindset.Was this article of value to you? Feel free to share it on your social networks and with your contacts, join in the discussion below, and FOLLOW her on the top right corner of this pg.
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As published on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lacking-creativity-debbie-ruston?trk=prof-post​

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