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What do you do to break out of that creative rut and get back to creating awesome again? Do any of these challenges or solutions sound familiar?
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Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D. says
Hi Michelle,
A number of these creativity blocks resonated with me. The biggest one is getting overwhelmed by so much information.
I confess that I love to learn so much that I spend a disproportionate about of time researching, following links and discovering some of the most amazing and wonderful information. Only problem: hours pass and I end up amassing piles of notes and new ideas but neglecting to spend the time implementing them. Not to mention I get too exhausted to be creative.
Resolved: make time to play so creativity can bubble up.
Michelle Shaeffer says
Great resolution, Flora. Time to play helps a lot with getting that creative groove back.
Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. says
I was pretty certain that this folklore was incorrect- that there is no correlation between creativity and IQ, when one’s IQ exceeds 120. It may not be symmetrically linked 1 to 1, but it clearly has correlation. This article http://megasociety.org/noesis/149/iq&pear.html provides more information about that.
(I admit that we tend to try to measure creativity and have definitely found that a certain IQ is critical for our efforts [but, then again, most PhD’s exceed that level anyway] and that creativity is increased (perhaps as the square root or cube root of the delta over 120 baseline. Our data is also anecdotal, with only 250 or so points.)
Michelle Shaeffer says
Interesting! Thanks for sharing that, Roy.
Debra Jason says
Loved this @Michelle. Great food for thought & I shared it on one my Pinterest boards. And, @Flora I know of that which you speak – one can spend so much time gathering great ideas, but we need to make time to implement them too. Thanks.
~Debra
Michelle says
Thanks for pinning this, Debra.
It’s easy to think more information and more ideas is what we need… but implementation (even if it’s imperfect at first) will get us moving in the right direction and seeing results!
Leanne Chesser says
Hahaha. A lot sound familiar. I’m a personality type who naturally wants things to make sense. The black and white thing works for me. Chaos is yucky. Editing is awesome. Mistakes generally suck. And I love information and thinking. When I get in a rut, I get away from it all and go walk in nature or go drive somewhere. Then the creativity flows again. I love this infographic!
Michelle Shaeffer says
That’s a great idea, Leanne. Something about being out in nature is so great for relaxing and reconnecting with our creativity.
Elena Anne says
That was a great display of graphics and encouragement. I appreciated the order in which you presented your ideas, definitely effective and “creative.” An important part of honing creativity is to eliminate distractions. By removing distracting we can increase our productivity as well. We certainly don’t need high IQs to be creative people!
Michelle says
Copyblogger always does a beautiful job on their infographics.
I agree, Elena. Distractions can make it very difficult to get into a creative state of mind.
Adalia John says
Fabulous infographic … It was approximately an hour or so I had this discussion with my #2 son. I’m building an APP for an android phone and I don’t have an android phone. My son and my daughter, Android phone users, check the app for problems. After the third trial run, my son said “mom, why are you doing an Android app when you don’t have an Android phone?” I replied “Zu, (my #1 son’s name) if you wait for perfection most things will not get done.”
I appreciate every one of these tips for getting out of the creative rut.
Thanks Copyblogger and Michelle for sharing with us.
Michelle says
Adalia, that reminds me of the saying, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” (Volatire) If we become obsessed with waiting until everything is perfect, and not sharing something until it’s perfect… we might never get into action or get ourselves and our skills out there in the world. :)
Jane says
Wonderful post to motivate my moods Michelle :) I especially like the part about not separating work and play. I’m actually like that usually and I always find people giving me advice on quitting that mentality. I do work very lightly (although that doesn’t mean that I don’t take work seriously), and it does work for me :)
Michelle Shaeffer says
Me too, Jane. My best work is when I’m “playing” and not “working.” I think we can take play seriously!
pst bless says
Thanks mama, i appreciate your visit. thanks for sharing this info. You are blessed.
Michelle Shaeffer says
Thanks. Appreciate the comment, Blessing.
Marc Scott says
Thinking creatively and logically at the same time. That is where I sink myself every single time! I love this infographic. I’ll be sharing it.
Michelle Shaeffer says
It can be tough to separate those out. One of the biggest challenges for me when I started blogging was to just write first, and not edit myself while writing. Still have to remind myself of that sometimes. :)
Floris Nijenhuis says
Fantastic infographic and one that not only looks good but delivers! I think the wealth of information we currently enjoy is brilliant but it’s just so easy to get swamped by it all. The key is to stick with it and certainly not let things like others discouraging you and not believing in yourself become a factor.
Michelle Shaeffer says
Surrounding ourselves with supportive people is important for success–and creativity.
Nellie says
This is definitely a big help Michelle! These past few days, I have been so lazy and I am even losing the creativity I have before and now I am just happy I have found this..
Evelyn | Marketing the Intangible says
The last one really gets my attention… I over-think A LOT. I’m practicing limiting my thinking time: Depending on the problem or challenge, I think about it for a few minutes or a few days, but always have a definite deadline for when I’ll decide and act. And I think creativity is far more important than intelligence!
Christine Mann says
It’s all been said – I’m swamped and overwhelmed with volumes of information sitting around, but you’ve made it clear repeatedly, ACT – don’t wait for perfection – thanks! And this is such a creative way to talk about creativity – will share it too.
Ayla says
Thank you so much for this post! I mean seriously! I’ve been having trouble being creative for a long time now. Could you imagine an artist that’s not creative?? I don’t know about the others but this post carries a very powerful message for me. :) Thanks a bunch! :)
Kristina B. says
Very good and detailed infograph. I agree that creativity does not have to be related to intelligence (I think only sense of humor does). Creativity is a special state of mind achieved by those who can separate their work and play (as you, anyway, had already showed it on the graph).Loved it. Thank you, Michelle.
Jessica says
The post was very captivating. :) I really loved reading it. I think it’s important to always try to get out of your funk especially if it’s affecting your creativity. You might get stuck in that rut for a long time if you don’t.