Does it sometimes feel like you have nothing to create or don’t know what to do? Or you do know but don’t have the motivation to do it. Call it writer’s block, creative block, photographer’s block, or whatever.

Let me reignite that flame.

Do it for you

Challenge yourself every day with your craft. Do it for you. Allow others to see the results of you challenging yourself creatively.

How can you keep writing, taking photos, drawing, painting or play your instrument when you don’t feel like it?

Have fun with it. Create in silence. There’s no need to show it to anyone. That can remove some of the pressure to create something “perfect”. Try to remind yourself why you enjoy doing what you’re doing. Photograph, draw, write about the things you like. But keep the ball rolling. Dabble. Scribble. Keep the creative juices flowing.

Make sure you have a project that’s there to further your craft. Something outside of what you’re creating every day. A project with someone, an organisation or a brand. A project where you are taking a creative risk to push your limits to provide them with the best creative work you can produce.

Throw yourself into a situation where you have no idea what you’re doing or what you’re going to do. That’s where the magic happens. It gives you the opportunity to push your creative limits.

“Never let perfection get in the way of good enough.”

A system I found to be most helpful is to create a new article as soon as possible. To get words on paper immediately.

I’ll leave it and come back to it the next day with a fresh perspective. Then I tweak a few things from the previous day’s work and add to it. Two to three days before I publish, I have a friend or two read through it to give constructive criticism.

Then I begin to edit without mercy. If there is the slightest doubt about a sentence or message I’m trying to get across, it’s either changed or deleted. This process of elimination helps to keep it simple and removes most of the fluff, leaving only the most valuable information.

Do everything you can do, but then let it be. “Send your child to school“. Hit the publish button and allow it to do its thing. Now you can begin to receive feedback from your community to find out what worked and what didn’t. This gives you the opportunity to improve your next piece of work.

Do the best you can today. It might not be your overall best, but it’s the best you can do today. Tomorrow you can try again.

Discipline

Don’t wait until you “feel like it“. You might never feel like it.

Do a little bit every day. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Allow yourself to get into the creative flow. Create an opportunity for yourself to get into the creative flow by spending just a few minutes on what you want to do.

Continue to do.

Keep moving forward.

Step by step. Not leap by leap.

Begin with a word, a brushstroke, a piano key, a press of a shutter button.

Allow time for the habit to form of being able to create a little bit every day.

If you don’t feel like creating, and you don’t create, that loop will keep going. On the contrary, if you are creating daily or weekly, it becomes easier to keep that up. If you learn the skill and habit of creating, even when you don’t feel like it, isn’t that what every artist wants?

Even if you don’t upload what you’ve created, you still created something. Something good or worth sharing might be born out of it. You never know, and that’s why it’s important to keep creating. When you reach into the unknown world of creativity, who knows what you’re going to pull out?

Stick to your discipline. Excercise on your passion, skill, and the love you have for your craft. Sometimes it isn’t just about creating with the intention of showing it to thousands of people. You can also create because you want to and enjoy doing it.

Now go and keep creating.