Guest Author - Debbie Striker
How often do you let these things suck your creative inspiration away from you? Being aware of the creativity killers in your life and taking action to keep them away leaves you more open to creative flow.
1 - Killer - Party Poopers
You share your ideas with a close friend and expect to hear how wonderful it is. Instead you receive a long list of why your idea won’t work. You don’t have the time to see it through. It won’t work out. You haven’t through it through enough. Sometimes we are our own party pooper.
Cure - Share your ideas with only those people who you know will support you. Support can often mean making suggestions about how you can do things better or differently.
2 - Killer - Time Suckers
Before you begin your project you just need to quickly take care of … Once you’ve taken care of the first thing on your list, you realize you really should take care of this, that and the other. Before you know it, the time you had available to create has suddenly disappeared.
Cure - Schedule yourself time to work on your creative projects. Treat this scheduled time like you would any other important meeting or appointment. Your time with yourself is just as valuable as your as the time you commit to others.
3 - Killer - Perfectionism
You have a brilliant creative inspiration, you’re ready to jump in and start working to fulfill your vision, but you just can’t seem to start the project. You find yourself constantly tweaking your ideas and trying to plan every little detail.
Cure - Give yourself a set amount of time to plan for a project and then begin. Realize that getting everything perfectly planned out ahead of time may be asking for problems and changes to arise. Things seldom go exactly as planned and sometimes the unforeseen changes become our most brilliant work.
4 - Killer - Boredom / Monotony
You are doing the same type of projects or working with the same materials all the time.
Cure - Switch it up a bit. Try out new techniques or new types of materials. There are tons of online “how to” site with videos and inspiring projects. Randomly pick something you’ve never tried before and give it a shot. Simply doing something new and different can help change your perceptions.
5 - Killer - Exhaustion
Physical, mental and spiritual exhaustion can take a huge toll on your creativity and life in general. When we’re exhausted we are definitely not at our bests.
Cure - Get some rest! Prioritize your responsibilities and learn to say “No” when you need to or even when you just don’t want to do something. Saying, “No” and sticking to it can be one of the most powerful things you do in your life. Making sure you are getting enough rest and spending your time doing things that you enjoy and fulfill your needs will leave you the energy you need to be your best creative self.
