Here is a question I have wondered about for quite some time now: What is the best approach to take when you know you want and need to be creative, but the inspiration or direction isn’t there?
Recently, this question has been really present on my mind. For the last two weeks, I haven’t felt inspired to write a new blog post. I haven’t had a direction in mind or a good idea for what I should focus on. When this happens, I always wonder if I should push myself to write something or just take a break and wait for inspiration to strike.
This time, I took the “wait and see” approach and I haven’t written a blog post for two weeks (and what I do end up writing revolves around this dilemma I am having). But I wonder if I took a more active approach and scheduled a specific time to write, maybe I would have come up with something sooner.
One way isn’t right or wrong, but perhaps one could be more effective.
Now, this isn’t too big of an issue when the inspiration is so strong that it just flows out of us and we cannot ignore it. But when the inspiration or spark isn’t there, that is when we need a plan. Otherwise, we can become stuck or creatively blocked if we allow too much time to pass.
The Two Approaches
After processing around this question, I have come up with the two basic approaches we can take when we want to be creative but it isn’t flowing easily. I have also included some ideas on what to watch out for when using each approach and when to try which approach.
The Passive Approach to Creativity:
The Approach: Get your head out of the creative process so that you can clear your mind and perhaps create space for inspiration to strike. Do something else - go for a walk, meditate, talk it over with a friend, etc. This can help to prevent frustration, which can create further blockages to creativity.
- What to Watch Out for: Excessive passivity that turns into needless procrastination.
- When to Use The Passive Approach: When you have already tried really hard to be creative - you have sat down to do the action but you feel all dried up with no idea how to proceed. The passive approach can create more clarity by putting some space between you and the creative activity.
The Active Approach to Creativity:
- The Approach: Actively carve out time and space to be creative and just start doing the creative action. Take the necessary steps to keep yourself in the creative space - create an environment that will help you focus, minimize distractions, etc. This can help you devote the time to doing the action so that perhaps you can open up a new channel of inspiration.
- What to Watch Out for: Becoming too strict or regimented that you lose sight of the enjoyment of being creative.
- When to Use The Active Approach: When you have been procrastinating for too long and the little rebel in you keeps finding other things for you to do that are “more important” than your creative work. The active approach can help prevent against self-sabotage which cripples any attempt at being creative.
Most of all, it is important to realize that creativity is a form of self-care. It is incredibly important to have some type of creative outlet in our everyday lives. But it cannot feel like a chore or a burden, otherwise, it looses all the benefits of self-care. This doesn’t mean that we get to procrastinate the urge to be creative and watch a movie instead (which I do sometimes). It also doesn’t mean that we won’t have to create some structure or put effort into our creative outlets.
Life gets so busy with so many competing priorities that creativity can seem like the low man on the totem pole. It can easily get swept aside and ignored in favor of other priorities such as paying bills and seeing friends. One is not necessarily more important that then other but what is important is the sum of all of our actions.
If we spend all of our time taking care of others and ignoring our own needs, we are determining our priority as: others first, self second. If we spend all of our mental and physical energy on our day-job (the one that pays the bills) and leave no time for our heart’s work (creativity, hobbies, passions, etc.), then we are declaring that our day job is more important than our heart’s work. It is a very personal distinction, but an important one to identify for yourself: Do your stated priorities match up with how you actually spend your time?