5 Ways to Block Your Creativity
Serendipity is an interesting thing. The draft for this post was written over a week ago with the intention of posting it this week. It just so happens that Darren Rowse over at Problogger is doing another Group Project this week and the subject is Lists. 
Most articles on creativity talk about how to become more creative. Makes sense, right? I ran across one the other day that took a different tack. Creativity Killers - 7 Sure Fire Ways to Kill Your Creativity by Dan Goodwin approaches the subject by talking about what we should avoid doing. For the most part, I agree with Dan, though I would narrow the list down to five.
5 Creativity Blockers
Here is my list of the top 5 ways to block your own creativity:
- Expect perfection every time
- every attempt has to be perfect, even if it’s your first try at something - Same old thing
- do the same thing, watch the same shows, listen to the same music. Build yourself a little box and don’t come out of it. - Procrastination
- put off applying your creativity. After all, you can always try it tomorrow,right? - Imbalance
- spend most of your time doing just one thing. Obsess over it. And pig out on junk food. - Someone else’s vision/dream
- spend your creative efforts on someone else’s idea. It’s is probably better than yours anyway, right?
Unblock Your Creativity
If you can block your own creativity, you can unblock it too:
- Perfection is overrated.
- No one is perfect and even the most talented people spend most of their time creating less than perfect projects. One of the best things you can do for your creativity is something we’ve discussed before, Forget Perfection! - Creativity is like a muscle.
- It needs to be feed and used in order to remain strong and active. Go out to new places, read a book by an author you’re unfamiliar with. Stretch your comfort zone and break out of the boxes you put yourself in. - Like Nike says, “Just Do It.”
- Exercise that creative muscle every day, even if its just a little bit. Need some help? Look under our Quick Starts. Test your limits. I’ll bet you can get just a little bit past them. - Keep your life in balance.
- Spending all your time at work or playing video games narrows your field of reference. A balanced lifestyle gives you a wider palatte to draw your inspiration from and ensures that you have the energy to follow up on those inspirations. - Follow your own vision.
- Your best creative efforts will coincide with the things you care most about. That’s when energy, desire and effort are all harnessed together.
So, are you going to stand in the way of your creativity?
Or are you going to clear the path for it?
It’s your choice.
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[...] 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity by ShadowsEdge [...]
Pingback by 5 Reasons Why I am loving this week’s ‘Lists’ Group Writing Project - Reader Submissions Round 2 — August 16, 2006 @ 7:56 am
This is a great list….. kind of inspiring, thanks!!
http://joshmaher.wordpress.com/2006/08/14/top-ten-reasons-you-should-not-blog/trackback/
Comment by Josh Maher — August 16, 2006 @ 8:59 am
Hey Josh!
Thanks for visiting. Glad you liked the list!
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 16, 2006 @ 9:06 am
Nice list…I tend to procrastinate and do the same old things. Time to shake things up!
Comment by Jersey Girl — August 16, 2006 @ 9:44 am
Just creating this blog has made me shake things up a bit! It’d just be wrong for me not to follow the advice we give!
Keep stopping by, maybe we’ll be able to help you shake things up!
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 16, 2006 @ 9:47 am
This is a very helpful list. It’s similar to a post I put up called “Five ways to get beyond an artistic block.” If you don’t mind, I’ll add your comments to my list and link back to you.
Comment by Laurie — August 16, 2006 @ 10:20 am
Laurie,
Feel free to use what we’ve posted and link back! Its always neat to see how ideas expand as they make their way around the blogosphere!
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 16, 2006 @ 10:31 am
Excellent list, I’m definitely going to keep it around for reference! Our list is up if you’d like to look… Have a great day!
Comment by MamaDuck — August 16, 2006 @ 10:46 am
Thanks Mama Duck!
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 16, 2006 @ 11:02 am
Love the list! Thanks for sharing and for stopping by to check out my list as well. Will definitely be back for creative inspiration!
Comment by Tasra Dawson — August 16, 2006 @ 12:29 pm
That’s what we’re here for! And I’ve added your blog to my feed reader.
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 16, 2006 @ 12:33 pm
I’m partial to numbers 1, 2, and 3. 1 and 3 are related. I’m a perfectionist, and I know what I write won’t be perfect, even when it’s good, so I’ll often put off writing anything.
Routine is a great way to block your creativity. The act of creation is by definition the act of bringing something new into the world. That’s pretty hard to do when you’re in your cozy little box. But the box is so comfortable!
Thank you for the tips on breaking down these barriers.
Comment by Rick — August 16, 2006 @ 1:57 pm
You’re more than welcome! It’s our belief that everyone needs at least a little bit of creativity in their lives - but we’ve found that most people just don’t know where to look or how to start being more creative. That’s why we’re here.
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 16, 2006 @ 2:04 pm
This is a good list, sometimes its very hard to beat the block, I’ll put these to good use.
My Crazy List
Comment by Chris — August 16, 2006 @ 2:25 pm
Chris,
Glad to be of some assistance! Come back and visit often. We try to post lots of little things to help overcome the block!
Loved your list and sent some friends to look at it!
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 16, 2006 @ 2:32 pm
Awesome list. Love the one in particular that says - just keep doing the same things over and over. Whenever I’m feeling frustrated and powerless, it’s usually because nothing has changed in my life for a while.
Comment by Naomi — August 16, 2006 @ 11:30 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity by ShadowsEdge [...]
Pingback by SEO Firm » 5 Reasons Why I am loving this week’s ‘Lists’ Group Writing Project - Reader Submissions Round 2 — August 17, 2006 @ 1:04 am
Thanks for coming to visit Naomi! Glad you liked the list!
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 17, 2006 @ 7:13 am
[...] 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity by ShadowsEdge and/or GeminiFatCat - Along with 5 ways to unblock your creativity [...]
Pingback by Problogger List Post Project — August 18, 2006 @ 6:43 am
Perfection is definitely my edge.
Comment by Graham English — August 18, 2006 @ 9:30 am
Graham,
Thanks for stopping by! Perfection is a double-edged sword when it comes to creativity - I know very few people who can balance on its edge.
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 18, 2006 @ 9:52 am
5 Ways to Kill Your Creativity…
Everyone gets a creativity block every once in a while, especially when you need to finish a project YESTERDAY! I found this post on the YourCre8tivity.com blog on 5 ways to kill your creativity, and 5 ways to unleash it….
Trackback by The Bead Feed — August 18, 2006 @ 1:40 pm
[...] Creativity is not a topic I have specifically written about on this blog. I’ve just been reading the post on the blog YourCre8tivity about writing and creativity. The writer has written a post about ways of stopping creativity. [...]
Pingback by Trevor Hampel » Creativity — August 19, 2006 @ 8:19 am
I’m jumping into the comments pretty late here, but your list is really good and so true. Thanks for dropping by my blog!
Comment by Ray Dotson — August 20, 2006 @ 6:24 am
Ray,
It’s never too late to jumpt into the comments here! Thanks for stopping by!
Comment by ShadowsEdge — August 20, 2006 @ 8:21 am
[...] I usually steer clear of pep talks and particularly pep talks about being creative. I prefer to get on with it but I tripped over YourCre8tivity.com which is a blog on creativity. Most articles on creativity talk about nurturing your creativity this list talks about 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity. All of them I have seen in action at various points in my life either I have watched others or they have influenced me. The list is followed by 5 ways to build your creativity. I personally like the point about forgetting perfection as perfection infers that there is a right and wrong way of doing something. Notions of ‘correctness’ are sure to block creative sparks. What is your favourite? creativity [...]
Pingback by inaminuteago - the blog » 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity — August 21, 2006 @ 5:15 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity by ShadowsEdge [...]
Pingback by Health-Related Lists at Health Hacker - Healthy Living for Busy People — August 25, 2006 @ 5:47 am
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Pingback by Lists Group Writing Project - Categorized — August 26, 2006 @ 3:30 am
[...] 117. 10 steps to improve your ESP, healing and psychic abilities by Jacob 118. AAA list of 11 important advantages to list writing by Darren 119. Five Ways to Make Yourself Miserable by Rick 120. Five ways to get beyond an artistic block by Laurie 121. Health and Disease Prevention: 10 Important Phytochemicals by Trisha 122. Five Common Musicianship Problems - Why Ones Do You Want to Overcome? by Graham 123. Stupid Things You can Do by David 124. 9 Steps to Transform Stress into Strength by Alvin 125. 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity by ShadowsEdge 126. 10 Tips on Leading a Balanced Life by Allen 127. How to Achieve Peak Performance by Basil 128. 10 Rules to Live By by Spencer 129. Get More Done in a Day: Do Little Things, Achieve Big Things by Tim 130. Manage your time by Mastering Conversation Stoppers by Julie 131. The 10 Best Ways to Win an Argument by I Can’t Say That 132. 12 Great Reasons to Become a Bird Watcher by Mike 133. Ways to Make People Always Remember You by Costa 134. How I am Going to Get What I Want by Jennie 135. Top 5 Keys to Success by Ian 136. Top 10 Things I’d Tell My Younger Self by Ray 137. 5 Ways to get back in your skinny Jeans by Stephanie 138. How to Be Charming by Brian 139. 10 Reasons to Baffle Your Friends and Become a Vegetarian by Ross 140. C.P.R. for a Balanced Life by Hueina 141. 10 Ways to Boost Your Productivity by James 142. The Five Questions You Should Never Ask by Tooz 143. What to Expect When You’re Not Expecting It by Molly 144. 10 Ways to Improve Your Energy by Scott 145. 11 Ways to Improve Clarity and Start Getting Results by Alexander 146. How to Gain weight without really trying (and the antitheses) by Sally 147. 5 Tools that get you way more productive by Tim 148. Top Six Mushroom Baby Names by Nancy 149. 5 Easy Steps to Snag a Date with Me by Sasha 150. She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not? by Kloudiia 151. 5 Reasons to Put Off Living With Your Girlfriend by Joseph 152. 4 Ways to More Romance by jldude 153. Why Starting Over is a A Good Thing by PhoneBoy 154. 4 easy-to-use resources for higher ed learning by Leslie 155. 3 Ways to Boost Your Happiness Level by Conn 156. Getting Better with Age by Ruth 157. Pillar Articles to Write about the Art of Creating a Joyful Life by Linda 158. 5 links to calorie-conscious fitness by Fitness Mantra 159. Five Reasons Why Mornings Rock by Health Hacker 160. 5 Ways of Marketing Salvation by Richard 161. Q&A: Low vs. High pathogenic Avian Influenza by Grace 162. Finding Time and Creating Balance by Tasra [...]
Pingback by Michael Anuzis » Sharing Advice — August 26, 2006 @ 10:34 am
[...] “My brothers Angelo and Pasquale would want to show you 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity. One of them might involve your knees,” Lizzie replied sweetly. [...]
Pingback by Successful Blog - 301 Links in a Story — Chapter 4 Lizzie, Jean, and Etch-a-Sketch — September 15, 2006 @ 8:02 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity : I like this blog because the entire theme is creativity. This post indentifies some creative blockers, and some ways to unblock them. [...]
Pingback by The Bead Circle Blog » Blog Archive » Crafty Lists You’ll Love — October 3, 2006 @ 11:48 pm
[...] 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity by ShadowsEdge [...]
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Pingback by » Time Travel - One Year Ago (August 15 - August 21) » YourCre8tivity.com - Creative Adventures » Blog Archive — August 21, 2007 @ 10:04 am
[...] 22, 2006 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity Posted by sharonb under Design I usually steer clear of pep talks and particularly peptalks about being creative. I prefer to get on with it but I tripped over YourCre8tivity.com which is a blog on creativity. Most articles on creativity talk about nurturing your creativity this list talks about 5 Ways to Block Your Creativity. All of them I have seen in action at various points in my life either I have watched others or they have influenced me. The list is followed by 5 ways to build your creativity. I personally like the point about forgetting perfection as perfection infers that there is a right and wrong way of doing something. Notions of ‘correctness’ are sure to block creative sparks. What is your favourite? [...]
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