No matter how good you are at what you do, you’ll often face a situation where you feel like you’ve run out of ideas. You then get stuck in this never-ending vacuum that drowns all your energy and beats you up to a point where you realize you’ve failed. I don’t know how accurate this statement is from a broad perspective, but it’s something almost every creative individual I’m connected with complain about frequently. And well, I’m one of them. However, the most exciting thing about coming across creative blocks is that you eventually overcome them and move on.
But have you ever figured out what helped you break free from these creatively “stuck” situations? Maybe no, in most cases. Therefore, it’s no surprise why we get stuck the same way again while facing another block some other time.
You can’t avoid this uncomfortable situation, whether you’re on a marathon or a quick sprint, but you’ll somehow pass it (no doubt about that). However, in my opinion, the most important thing is to learn to deal with it effectively so it always remains a tiny footnote, not a whole chapter, in your everyday professional experience.
Creative blocks have halted my dream projects for weeks and months, and in some cases, for years. Therefore, I’ve been researching quite a bit about dealing with them effectively. If you Google how to deal with a creatively stuck situation, you’ll come across multiple experts and articles that suggest you various solutions, such as take a break, take a walk, note down everything you experience, change your environment, meditate, and so on and on and on. While I believe these suggestions work for most people, a different approach has helped me incredibly. I’d like to explain that approach in this article. Maybe it’ll help you too.
On the April of 2020, when (most of) the world was worried about having to stay indoors, I happen to accidently connect with a person who would teach me one of the most important ways to manage creativity. It was a regular old man who introduced me to ‘five-minute thinking practice’. The method is straightforward and only requires pondering on a single topic for at least five minutes straight, and it has changed the way I do things. It’s simple, and you’ll do better with time, but let’s first understand what it’s about.
According to the old man, if you uninterruptedly focus on finding answers to a single problem for a long time, you’ll somehow come across the right solution. Conversely, if you focus on the problem itself, it becomes much bigger than it previously was. The catch is that our mind is very reactive to what you feed it, meaning: focus on solutions and it’ll provide you with one, concentrate more on the negative side — the problems — it’ll multiply them.
We are no strangers to the five-minute thinking practice. But the sad part is, we only practice it unknowingly during uncomfortable situations, such as fear, grief, and insecurity. That’s how more people tend to (over)react to regular problems. On the other hand, if we could command our minds to concentrate on productive things, results will be amazing.
Here’s how you can incorporate this five-minute thinking practice to overcome creative blocks. It’s effortless.
- Keep yourself away from distractions and close your eyes
- Focus on where you’re stuck and think of the possible solutions to it, avoiding any other thought
- Do it for at least five minutes
You’ll experience the ideas flowing in your mind the way you get the information on answerthepublic.com after you input a keyword to it. Just make sure the branches of information don’t grab your attention and drive you away from your core thought.
If you have been practising meditation, you’ll have no problem understanding its flow. It’s okay if you haven’t; it’s just an entry-level method to clear, understand, and most importantly, control your mind to find creative solutions. It’s easy and effective.
And Finally…
It’s fantastic if you come across creative blocks more frequently because it means you’ve been original in your efforts. If you could just find a way to deal with them effortlessly, the possibilities are infinite.
I had previously asked if you’ve ever figured out what rescued you from creatively stuck situations. Whether you are aware of it or not, there’s only one correct answer to it: your focused mind. You’ve been unknowingly commanding your mind to focus and find a solution. Therefore, if you can make your mind think and focus the way you want, perfection will be your regular affair.
Michael Ghimire 