What to do when you have no creative ideas

5 ways to be more creative

1. Stop forcing it

If you’ve been at the computer for hours trying to make it happen but you’re just getting crickets do something else. Move on to working on another project or better still get out in the fresh air. Kick a ball about with the kids or have a run. Change your physical state and move your focus to something completely different. It’s as good as a holiday for your brain.

2. Go wide on inspiration

If you’re designing a living room don’t just look at pictures of living rooms. Look at landscapes and fashion, go to a museum or a safari park. Ideas come when you give your brain new input and allow it time to make connections. It knows what you’re working on so feed it some inspiration and it will start cooking stuff up in the background and making connections while you’re enjoying yourself with the giraffes.

3. Get your thoughts on paper

Spider diagram or mood board it. It’s often easier to see connections when we stop trying to be linear about it or form full grammatical sentences. Brain dump onto paper everything you know so far and you’ll be surprised at what ideas it sparks.

If you have no good ideas start with the rubbish ones. Get them down onto paper. Look at them from different angles. What would the opposite of each of those ideas be? Put them away for 24 hours and come back to them. Mood affects how we see things so there might be some gems in there you’ll pick up tomorrow when you’re feeling refreshed and in a better mindset.

4. Sleep on it

When you sleep your brain processes all the input from the day. Giving yourself that processing time can be enlightening. It also means you’re well rested and fresh ready to continue the following morning.

5. Walk away (or run)

Studies show that exercise improves mood and increases the production of brain cells. Thinking about your project while you’re on the move can lead to a whole host of new ideas.

Nobody is inspired 24 hours a day and everyone has barren times. That said rather than waiting for inspiration to strike you can have a go at some of ideas above to encourage it to come back quicker.