Finding Your Genius: 3 Surprising Places to Get Creatively Re-inspired

Today, I don’t know what I should write about. This doesn’t happen too often as I keep a repository of ideas for this very purpose. But today, nothing feels right. So what do I do?

Photo Credit: gilmorec via Compfight cc

I thought I just might share my process for where I turn to when I run out of ideas — and why creativity never happens in a vacuum.

We all get stuck sometimes. We lose the inspiration that made us want to create in the first place. Overcome with so many possibilities, we get overwhelmed and don’t know what to do.

The answer to this feeling of “stuckness” is a complicated one. Some will tell you to just check out. Go for a walk or take a break. But sometimes, a quick fix doesn’t do the trick. You’re on a deadline or committed to following through no matter what. You don’t have time to take a break. You’ve got to produce something now.

What do you do?

This, I believe, is the place where some of the best creativity happens — when you feel absolutely stuck and aren’t quite sure where to turn. Let me explain why.

Creativity is not an isolated incident

Over the years, psychologists have changed the way they think about creativity. Originally, to be creative was a highly individualistic endeavor. It was something that happened to very special people. We called them “geniuses.”

Now, researchers understand the science of creativity to be a little more complex than that. Many embrace what’s called a “systems theory” of creativity, which basically means the environment you’re in and the people you’re around affect the work you do.

Genius, according to the research, has little to do with inborn characteristics. It isn’t so much about having a great idea or being an exceptional person. It’s more about finding the right combination of factors that will allow your originality to shine.

As famous psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (which is fun to say and even more fun to try to spell) said:

Creativity presupposes a community of people who share ways of thinking and acting, who learn from each other and imitate each other’s actions.

In other words, in spite of what we would like to think, creative work doesn’t happen in a vacuum, some mad scientist workshop out in the middle of nowhere. True creativity, the kind that makes a mark on history, happens in a community, an environment full of interconnected parts.

How to get unstuck

Great ideas just aren’t enough. The world’s most creative people need encouragement and help getting their ideas out into the world.

So when you’re feeling creatively stuck — whether it’s with a blog post or a new business venture — it’s important to not retreat. You have to find a way to get moving in the right direction again. Below are three strategies that work.

Copy someone else. When you don’t know what to do, it’s not a bad idea to imitate what someone else is doing. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to be “original.” That comes with time and practice. As Picasso famously said, “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” And in the stealing, I believe, we find something original.
Move around. Transition from your desk to your sofa. Work at the kitchen table instead of the home office. Or get even more extreme and pack your bags. Michael Crichton used to finish his novels in a hotel room, and Ernest Hemingway didn’t really become the author we know him as until he moved to Paris. A change in environment can do a lot.
Do what’s easy. We are all born with a unique set of genes that influence who we become. In the writing world, a popular adage is to “write what you know.” The idea here is you have more resources than you know what to do with. Flannery O’Connor said that if you survived childhood, you have enough writing material to last you a lifetime. Sometimes, doing the easiest, most natural thing is all it takes to find your genius.

What I did

How did I do these things with this blog post?

First, I did a little bit of research because I’ve looked around at other writers (like my friend James Clear) who do a much better job of integrating scholarly articles into their writing. And I learned from them, applying what I could to this piece.

Then, I went upstairs to lie on my bed, stomach-down, to write (I don’t know why, but this posture just has a way or squeezing the ideas out of me). I think it’s because it’s a little uncomfortable and not a posture I can maintain all day.

Finally, I did what I knew: I wrote a blog post. I didn’t try to sound too much like someone else. I just did me.

When we do what feels natural, what seems obvious or even easy, we are tapping into our individuality — which is much more valuable than we realize. But that individuality needs to be leveraged with the right environment and shared in a way that will make an impact. You have to pay attention to what your peers are doing and be aware of the gatekeepers, while at the same time putting yourself in a place where your true self can shine.

Note: If you need help compiling your best ideas into a book, check out Learn Scrivener Fast, an online course that will help you make the most of my favorite word processing tool. For the rest of today, you can get access to a free webinar replay and a special discount. Learn more here.

What do you do when you run out of ideas? Share in the comments.

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