It happens to the best of us - the creative juices just stop flowing and you’re stuck with a dried up desert in your brain. Nothin’ but tumbleweeds. What do you do? Surrender to the emptiness and wait for a moment of inspiration to hit you? Hell nah. You get up and you get those juices flowing.
In any sort of creative field, your mind is your tool. It’s the “out-there” ideas and unique influence that led you to this path in the first place. If you’re a social media professional like me, it’s all about standing out from the crowd. Finding an interesting way to approach various digital platforms takes a lot of energy and being on top of your game is important. I can tell when I start to lose steam because I begin avoiding my work. “Oh, I’ll get to that tonight…” turns into “That can wait one more day…” turns into to “Man I really need to write that content but wtf am I gonna say?!” Since being out east, I’ve had a lot (like...A LOT) more quiet time to myself to figure out how to end a creative rut. Want to hear my ways? Too bad, I’m going to tell you anyways.
Take Care of Yourself
Be kind to your mind and body - they both feed off of each other, after all. If you find yourself obsessing over things out of your control instead of brainstorming a new campaign, go for a run. When negative feelings take over and you’d rather pull the covers over your head than edit those photos, do some yoga or go for a walk. Drink an almost obscene amount of water. Totally support the occasional indulgence of course (zero judgement), but if your body feels good your mind will as well.
Start a Conversation
Talk to someone you admire in your field. You don’t necessarily have to ask for tips or divulge that you’re struggling, but just simply chatting with someone who’s on the same page can give you endless amounts of inspiration. Grab some coffee and pick their brain!
Travel
Whenever I get home from a trip, even if it’s just for a weekend, I feel revitalized. You don’t have to plan a trip overseas, but changing up your routine does wonders. Honestly, sometimes if I’m at work and feeling uninspired, I just move to another room. Giving yourself a couple days to relax and not focus on work helps to clear your mind.
Work With What You Got
Just go for it. Write what you can, even if it’s just one liners or a list. You can come back to this in a couple hours or days and it may spark an idea in your brain. Also, making a list while you are feeling extremely inspired for the inevitable creative ruts can also be helpful. Pull that out of your back pocket in a pinch.
Search for Inspiration
For my social media clients, I often check out like accounts I love, create mood boards, read authors I admire, research artists I enjoy, or listen to a fire playlist. Don’t mistake this with repurposing others content. Surrounding yourself with inspirational work gets your wheels turning.
All of these tactics have helped me when creativity is lacking, and I felt it only my duty to share with all of you! Let me know what you'd like to see more of on the #sodamnsocial blog. Shoot S.O an email - sosocialchi@gmail.com
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