Conquer Your Creative Block

The mental hurdle you get when brainstorming or working on a project? It’s normal. But you can bulldoze your way through it, say creativity experts.

- Sasha Gonzales

We tend to associate creativity with just a handful of professions. But it’s not just writers, artists, architects and designers who need to be creative in their work.

All jobs require some level of creativity and we’ve all had moments – or even days – when we’ve had trouble coming up with an amazing idea or thinking of a better solution to a problem.

Whatever your role, it’s likely that you would have experienced a creative block at some point. But these ruts are to be expected, and they happen to the best of us.

More Than Just Innovation

Creativity expert Rob Levit, based in the US, says creativity is not just the ability to generate novel ideas and create new things, or about seeing the extraordinary in the obvious. It’s also about the value we provide. “I often say to myself that I’ve created something and it benefits me, but who else does it help? What value does it add to other people’s lives? A sign of great creativity is that it doesn’t live in a bubble or a vacuum.

“One way to add creativity to your life is to ask: ‘What can I provide that others can benefit from? What would that product, idea or service look like?’”

But, more than that, creativity is about your outlook on life. Rob points out that it is an approach that says: “I can be flexible in any situation. I can see many perspectives, not just my own. I can try new things and be okay with failure.”

Creativity is one of the most important qualities a person can possess in the workplace; more so than emotional intelligence and negotiation skills, says James Taylor, a London-based global creativity expert. That’s why you have to learn how to harness and develop it over time.

What Affects Creativity?