Every once in a while everyone has their mind stuck in a rut, as in they would face difficulties in coming up with ideas. For writers, it’s called a writer’s block. My sister once went to a seminar of Migual Machalski, a screenwriter from Argentina and asked him “how do you overcome a writer’s block?” and he gave an interesting perspective, Machalski explained that writer’s block occurs when you have a crisis going on in your life, a crisis or a situation you don’t fully fathom. For example, you are writing a love story but in reality you have never in your life been in love. Thus, that block occurs and your story would not be written smoothly. Or you do not comprehend a particular topic to start with and have never gotten a full hands experience on it.

For those in the creative industry, the term can be more generic and be called as a creative block. To help those troubled minds, Scott Hansen together with 25 different creative professionals compiled a great list and tips on how to get rid of that dreaded creative block.

Here’s one remarkable example from Christopher Simmons of the MINE graphic design studio:

To me there are three factors that contribute to creative block: One, believing you’re stuck. Two, knowing you’re stuck but not knowing how to get out. And three, knowing you’re stuck and knowing how to get out, but doubting your ability to do it. Here are my solutions, respectively:

1. I ask myself, am I really stuck? Sometimes we think we’re stuck or we want to think we’re stuck but we’re actually on track and just don’t know it. Some paths are inevitable. Remember, a rut is also a groove.

2. I do nothing. Being stuck is usually a matter of not seeing the problem clearly. The best medicine for that is perspective. I measure perspective in units of time and distance. Getting a away from a problem helps give me better view of it. Instead of flailing away I’ll do something unrelated — like go to a museum or watch a movie. Inevitably, something in that other experience presents itself as the answer to the problem I’m trying to ignore.

For more, Overcoming Creative Block

Source: psfk