7 painful things that block or depress creativity (and how to fight back)

We all know that focus is crucial for generating meaningful work, but it’s actually hard to put into practice. As a writer, my lack of focus and excess of ego have posed daily obstacles to my output, and lately, the pandemic has brought back some bad habits.  

At the prompting of my executive coach, writing this article has helped me to reconnect with those useful tools that have served my creativity in the past. Here are some of the obstacles that I have encountered and some tips that might also be helpful to you in dealing with them, if you’re experiencing a similar challenge:

 1. Interruptions. Being a creator requires space. Lots of it. The kind of space I am talking about resides in our minds. It’s a space where we can focus on our craft. Without it, our minds race about from one waypoint to another. Much like a dog on a walk sniffing tree trunks and lampposts for hints of canine connection, we ‘sniff’ out traces of human activity on social media for hints of love, friendship, or a better life. We compulsively check our feeds upon waking and whenever resistance—creativity’s enemy, as Steven Pressfield describes in his book The War of Art—creeps into our day, luring us away from our creative goals. 

 A lack of space, fueled by our need to connect, feeds that resistance.

The solution for this is turning off all notifications on our electronics. Turning on the moon symbol on our phones and the “do not disturb” on our computers are a wonderful thing, as they will block disturbances and give us the distraction free space we need to create and get into flow.

Now we need to embrace the silence and connect with the self: the higher creative self. 

The world will not end in the next 90 minutes, I promise. Oh, and quit email. Seeing that red dot on your email icon is too tempting.

 2. Perfectionism.  Each time I sit down to write a new article, I want it to be the BEST thing that's ever appeared on the subject. Opening up a new white blank page on the screen, I freeze and resort to the comfort of a busy mind (see point one above).

Brene Brown defines perfectionism as “a self-destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of blame, judgment, and shame.” 

So, how do deal with perfectionism? 

First, be aware that you have this tendency. 

Second, remind yourself that perfectionism in writing is a luxury or something one could call self-indulgent. As fiction writer Jodi Picoult so aptly said: “Writer's block is for people who have the luxury of time.” Time was short on that weekly deadline in the newsroom at the local weekly newspaper where I once worked. Also, there was that desire to be of service to our readers that superseded any fears of imperfection. Reminding ourselves of our service to others will blow away ego.

Third, try taking an imperfect first step. For example, if writing is your creative activity, type into an empty email. Email has a rudimentary quality to it, and is great for tapping into that need to communicate. Pretend you’re writing to a best friend and give them really useful information. 

 Fourth, make your first step enjoyable. I use OMMWriter. It is a simple word processor that has cool background and keyboard sounds. It’s similar to writing an email in its simplicity but with an unusual sensory experience. It’s strangely satisfying and makes me want to write. Put on those headphones, and you won’t want to stop typing.

 3. Lack of enough creator time. A consultant once advised me to block off three hours of writing time in my calendar, because after all, shouldn’t I as a writer prioritize my craft? It sounded like a good argument to me. 

 So I tried it. Writing became such a BIG thing in my head, that I dreaded it. I allowed people to book themselves into my calendar during my writing block or I would move it to other times in the day, then deleted it all together. 

 “When I schedule it, it feels like work,” my teenage son recently told me about his experience with blocking writing time.

 That’s it! I don’t like to see writing as work! 

 After beating myself up for my lack of discipline, I came to the conclusion that booking writing time in my calendar was turning me into a non-writer and causing me to rebel. I also reasoned that the amount of writing time I was blocking off was in direct proportion to the number of potential distractions entering my life!

 I prefer keeping spaces in my calendar that are open and white so that I can write to my heart’s content. Since I took the writing block off my calendar, I am writing and once I get started I can't stop, and I can easily write for five hours or more. 

 4. The long to do list. One could say I am a Getting Things Done (GTD) geek. GTD is a productivity method created by David Allen that helps people deal with the stuff entering their lives. This method is a great way to process tons of mail in a short amount of time in order to capture all of those tasks that need to get done. In OCD fashion, I found myself tweaking various productivity applications, including Omnifocus, rather than actually DOING the tasks. Talk about displacement activity. Then I fell into the trap of wanting to tick things off my list before I could write. 

Cal Newport writes about this problem in his blog post called Getting (Unremarkable) Things Done: The Problem With David Allen’s Universalism. “My commitment to GTD had me instead systematically executing tasks, one by one, like an assembly line worker “cranking widgets” (to use a popular Allen aphorism). I didn’t need to be cranking widgets. I needed to instead be crazily focused.” 

My love of “cranking widgets” had been serving me to a point, as I became super productive in administrative ways, but it soon conflicted with my writing. 

Today, I keep creative tasks out of my Omnifocus/GTD system. I realize that my creator brain lives in a different place than that manager or administrative brain. I also have to remind myself that my world is not going to implode if I don't do these things right this minute." 

Newport summarizes this perfectly: “Deep work is fundamentally different than the shallow (though still important) work of keeping on top of the little things required to function personally and professionally.” 

 5. Imposter syndrome. Aren't we all concerned with what people think of us? It’s hard to always have a thick skin and remind ourselves that what people think of us is none of our business.

 And it's too easy to get into the mind-frame of: what the hell was I thinking? There are plenty of other writers who can write about this better than me! But this is ego talking.

 “Creativity and ego cannot go together. If you free yourself from the comparing and jealous mind, your creativity opens up endlessly,” says Korean Zen Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan who appeared on the Netflix Chef’s Table. Her appearance on the show is especially meaningful because she’s not a professional chef; she just loves making food.

The reality is that anything creative that we undertake—be it writing, dancing, acting, singing, or painting—sets us up for judgment. We’re just not going to connect with and appeal to everyone, and that's okay.

 The goal is to create for the self. If you love it, someone else will. 

 6. Not knowing what to write. An independent writer's fear is not having any ideas that are perfectly formed. (Ah, that perfectionism again.) At the newspaper, my editor would assign stories, alleviating my having to come up with ideas. As an executive coach working for myself, I am my own editor.

 But the best way to come up with ideas is to have many of them. James Altucher and Seth Godin both espouse the idea of coming with many ideas, even if they are bad. 

 The truth is: it's hard working in a vacuum. That’s why I hire coaches and consultants. While writing the “vomit draft” of my memoir and various articles for this site, I hired people to help me brainstorm and come up with compelling article subjects and headlines. Now, I discuss my bad ideas with my coach who helps me form them.

 7. Anxiety. It's hard to focus on writing when anxiety occurs. Take the early days of this recent pandemic as an example. I found it particularly difficult to focus on writing, while draconian public health measures were being announced on the news on what seemed like an hourly basis. This led to a kind of hyper vigilance that was not conducive to creating.

 Recently, Dr. Stephen Sideroff gave a webinar on C4 Events during which he talked about the nine pillars of resilience and how our cognitive functioning can be impaired by stress. 

 “We must unwind,” he said. 

 He had many recommendations that are available in his paid programs and in his book The Path. He said using relaxation techniques—including breathing in for 4 counts and out for 6—help to balance our nervous system.

What's helped me has been staying off-line as much as possible, focusing on breath, cooking, doing jigsaw puzzles, hot baths, calling a friend, walks in nature, reading or listening to a book, and playing an instrument. 

“Listening boundaries” — not believing everything we hear or read on the news or in our feeds — are crucial. As Pia Melody writes in her book The Intimacy Factor, it is crucial to protect ourselves and if we hear something potentially upsetting, it is our responsibility to determine if what is being said is “true”, “not true’ or “questionable.” If we believe everything we read, we risk experiencing uncomfortable emotions unnecessarily.

Overcoming these seven obstacles can begin to help you gain focus and to increase or improve creative output. I wish you many meaningful moments in flow.