6 Ways to Beat Creative Block

In my life as full time youtuber and author, it is important to minimise the number of days where I get nothing done due to low motivation/inspiration, also known as creative block. I still have plenty of such days (more on that below), but I have developed some strategies that help me. I will outline my 6 most important ones this newsletter.

1. Get sweaty

I go for a 10 km run 2-3 times per week. And it is virtually impossible for me to go on a run without stopping a few times to make a voice memo about a new brilliant idea I got (which I also feel super motivated to pursue). It’s wonderful. I guess it is the mix between endorphins and getting the brain properly oxygenated. But what do I know, I’m not a doctor.

I only know that regular exercise is perhaps my most important routine to keep myself motivated and full of ideas for my creative work. Not to mention happy in life in general. I have found that it works best when I mix different types of exercise, so my goal each week is to do at least one run, one strength training session, and one swim.

2. Get bored

To boost my creativity and inflow of new ideas and inspiration, I often intentionally bore myself. One example is I leave my phone at home, and then leave home for 2-3 hours to just go for a long walk. Smartphones, social media apps and podcasts are amazing, but our addiction to them rob us of brain cycles that are sometimes better spent bored and thinking of new cool ideas.

One time I got myself really, really bored, by attending a 10 day silent Vipassana meditation retreat. You can have no books, phone, radio or any contact with other people or the outside world for 10 days. It was really, really boring. Probably the most boring 10 days of my life. But the day I got home from the retreat, I was probably the most inspired and motivated I have ever been to do creative work.

3. Get scared

Maybe the opposite of the previous tip, is to do something you normally do not do. Do something that feels a bit scary. I have a goal to do something like this at least once every week.

The point here is maybe not primarily to get scared, but to bring new experiences into your life, even if they are completely unrelated to your creative endeavours. And a sure fire way to get new experiences is to do things we are slightly scared of. For me it always sparks motivation and inspiration.

Why it works? I have no idea. It just feels like we need to regularly shake up our monotonous life routine a bit if we want to continue to feel inspiration and motivation.

4. Get sleep

I tried to write this newsletter earlier today, when I was tired (I didn’t sleep well during the night). I started typing but I really hated everything I wrote. It failed miserably and I decided to try another time. Then I took a long nap.

And now after this nap I’m typing the whole newsletter in one go, quickly and effortlessly. I’ve had naps fix many creative ruts. But best is of course to just try to sleep really long and well every night.

Sometimes you aren’t even aware that you are tired. But then you go to sleep early and sleep for like 12 hours, and the next day you feel absolutely fantastic, ready to take on anything. Then you understand that you were just tired.

Being well rested is a prerequisite for me to do creative work.

5. Get patient

I always make sure to get my sleep, my exercise, my new experiences, and my boredom. But I still have at least one day a week where I get nothing done due to some kind of creative block. And this is where patience and acceptance come in. Because sometimes you do everything right, but you still feel zero motivation, inspiration and creativity.

And then you should know one thing: It always comes back. In the beginning, it was hard for me to trust in this fact. But now, after doing creative work daily for so many years, I know this for sure. The creative lust, motivation and inspiration always comes back. At least for me.

So just take a step back and do something else in the meantime.

Creativity goes in waves. Small ones and big ones intermingled. So know that if you happen to be at the bottom of such a wave right now, there is only one way to go: up.

I have come to accept these ebbs and flows of creativity. I cannot control them. The only thing I can control, is that I seize every moment when I am at the top of a creative wave, to make the most of it. Ride the wave.

6. Get my books

Okay, this is not a tactic to cure creative block. I kind of lured you into this paragraph, didn’t I? But if you follow me and like my work, please consider purchasing either my macro photography handbook – 113 pages with everything I know about macro photography, or my brand new macro editing handbook, 77 pages on how I took and edited 10 of my best macro photos. The sales of these books make up 80% of my income that pays all my bills, so I am deeply thankful for everyone who supports me by purchasing them.