Sunday, October 12, 2008

Overcoming Creative Blocks


I admit, like most people, I get creatively blocked. This latest bout though has been going on awhile now. Yes, I have creative ideas but have been finding it difficult to actually sit down and turn them into reality.

So what causes creative blocks and what can we do to get past them? According to Steven Pressfield in the War of Art, it's called resistance or that feeling you get when you can't sit down to create. The feeling that makes you want to do everything from get a cup of coffee, talk on the phone or search the web, rather than create. Basically, it's anything you do to avoid actually being productive.

Pressfield's solution to overcoming resistance is to simply sit down and do the work that needs to get done. Like Twyla Tharp, in her book the Creative Habit, Pressfield believes that eventually the work will flow once we are engaged, and like Tharp he believes that creating must be a habit, something that is done every day.

Recently, I've been giving into my resistance and not creating at all, because I haven't had the time to sit down everyday and create.

  • What do you do when life gets in the way of your creating?
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3 comments:

Phalachandra said...

Perhaps I would start by rephrasing the question: "What do you do when you get in the way of Life creating?" May sound awkward, but I think nonetheless closer to truth. I would like to see the situation as life being the creative force, creative energy, and 'you' sitting in the way and blocking it! All you have to do is manage to get out of the way somehow!

MELANIE said...

Great comment and interesting question to ponder. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Well, I have just started a module at university about Developing Creativity through the Arts and Sciences.
I have learnt that I am not creative all the time, rather, I have different moods, in some of which I feel more creative than the others.
Your question has made me wonder if perhaps I am meant to be creative all the time but the time inbetween my creative moods are the "blocks".
To see if that is true, I have started a journal where I can write about whatever I want. I am hoping that being allowed to write anything and be as creative as I want, whenever I want, will enable me to tap into my creative moods more often and have less of the "inbetween" moods where I am not really that creative.
However, I only started it yesterday so the results are yet to be seen....