Everybody gets stuck.
Especially me.
I’ll be rolling right along, getting creative, making stuff… and then it’s like I roll through a sticky-taffy roadblock, like in an old cartoon.
And things grind to a halt.
This seems to happen more often when I’m evolving and changing my brand. The new territory just gets a bit tough to navigate sometimes.
If you’re ever stuck in your brand, trying to figure out what’s next or how to do that next thing… here’s a quick little list of the things I do to get unstuck:
- Talk to a friend about it and get their support and perspective.
- Change my scenery – leave the house and go haunt a coffee shop for a while.
- Admit I’m stuck and turn off my technology. Go read a book, take a bath, relax the brain. And start over the next day.
- Walk around the block.
- Hunt for inspiration on the internet (but not for too long…)
- Try an opposites exercise – where I make a list of the things I don’t want for the new brand or the new project. Look for comparisons.
- Think about what’s working currently in my brand and work from there.
- Think about how I want to feel when it’s done.
- Explore metaphors for the new thing.
- Draw a picture of what I want it to be like.
- Drink some tea.
- Sing a song.
- Change the Pandora station.
- Read an inspiring newsletter.
- Just do something. Write or design anything, even if it’s not good.
- Outline it.
- Get out the post-it notes and cluster-map it.
- Get out the really big paper (flip charts) and go to town.
- Ask a question on Facebook.
What do you do when you’re stuck? Please, please, share it in the comments below – I’d love to hear!
This is great Erin!!! So many I had not thought of to use before… why do we struggle so much when we get stuck!! You offered some great strategies that I will use next time…For me, sometimes I dance…by myself!!!
Great list Erin! We all get stuck sometimes and it is so supportive to have a list go to when it happens. Look at the list, pick one, and go do it and then come back refreshed with renewed creativity. Brilliant thanks!
I love this list — some great new ideas to try including:
“Try an opposites exercise – where I make a list of the things I don’t want for the new brand or the new project. Look for comparisons.”
My go-to technique is to leave the house — whether to go for a run or walk, run an errand, or do my grocery shopping. That usually helps me reset my brain:)
Erin,
This list is so great with any big STUCKness in my life. My favorite thing to do is dance. 😉 And my next favorite thing to get unstuck is to get out in nature and allow all of my senses to open up – listening to the birds, feeling the breeze, dipping my toes in the ocean foam, smelling the jasmine.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Kim
Sounds great Kim!
Erin, this is a great list. One of the things I find that helps me move forward is doing a google search on whatever I’m stuck on. I generally will find another word, image, idea, quote, etc that’ll get me going again. (You just have to be careful not to get too distracted with everything else!)
My favorite item in your list is the opposites. I never thought of naming the opposite of what I want, although it makes perfect sense. You can refine what you do want by looking at what you don’t want.
It may be misery loves company, so it feels good to know that someone as prolific and creative as you, Erin, even gets stuck. Or sometimes we think we’re stuck while our unconscious mind is toiling away at it?
Love it, Love it, Love it! So simple. I love your easy bullet point style and your great suggestions, as well as admitting your vulnerability of being stuck when your business is a very creative design one.
I love this Erin! I think turning of the tech and going for a walk in nature is really a good way to get unstuck myself and I love your “cluster map” idea – Something I do with myself when I’m stuck – in my brand or anywhere else in my life is I have a little (sometimes a BIG) chat with the “upstairs team” (AKA GOD, Angels, Ascended Masters, Universe, whatever you want to call the Celestial Business and Life Team that you might have) – I find the “team” has a better vision for me than I do and usually has things covered that I wouldn’t even think about – never mind the things I AM thinking about (which is usually what gets me stuck in the first place – too much thinking not enough feeling)!
Great list, Erin! And so helpful to know I’m not the only one who gets stuck! I love to pray about it also…that seems to open me up for divine inspiration. Your work is so wonderful so I’m glad you’re committed to moving through your blocks!! 🙂
Great list Erin! and wonderful ones from all the comments too. I think creatives probably get stuck more that most. When I was designing years ago, I get massively stuck all the time and the pressure to come up with something new and wonderful always got me feeling more stuck! What I use to do is totally stop thinking about it, wish I had the capabilities of what you have on your list back then. Nowadays, I move, dance, walk barefoot on the grass, read a book. Once in a while, call friends to just hang out even in the middle of the day… or evening. Gotta have friends who enjoy impromtu last minute moves. And, if there’s enrollment and availability, making love or awakening your sexual energy is one way to get unstuck too…creativity flows.:)