Losing your creative spark and getting it back

How to get those creative juices flowing again

I sometimes lose my creative spark. It’s hard to pinpoint why because I believe it to be a number of factors in my life that leave me depressed and unmotivated. This low mood sometimes lasts for months, hindering my growth and business prospects.

Eventually, the desire to do creative things returns. Like Austin Powers, I get my mojo back.

The first step in figuring out how to get my spark back came from writing a few entries in my journal about how I feel. Some may think it’s pointless to journal, but I look at it as me being my own therapist. Writing about my state of mind got me coming up with ideas to bring myself out of this depression. I listed some of the things I wanted to do to get my spark back, and then the next step was acting on them.

After going through this process, I see a big improvement. And with some follow-up work, I’m ready to conquer the world again.

Here are a few methods I use to get my creative spark back.

Journaling

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, nothing helps a person rediscover themselves like journaling. Whether you write about your thoughts, business ideas, the books you read, random thoughts, prose, gratitude, or religion. Writing something down (by hand) just makes you feel good about yourself.

For me, it was all I needed to get myself back into the flow of things. And I didn’t force myself to write pages and pages every day if I wasn’t in the mood for it. Scribbling a few thoughts down each day is enough to spark some creativity. Even just a few sentences are enough.

After some journaling, I’m juiced up to my eyeballs in creativity and all it takes is a few brain dumps into my journal. Try it and see if you don’t feel better about yourself after.

Doing housework

Nothing gives you a feeling of fulfillment like cleaning. In this digital age, we sometimes neglect our household responsibilities. This is especially true for me, someone who works primarily with computers.

On days when I work from home and my productivity is shot, I usually think of ways to be productive around the house instead. Doing these menial tasks gives me room to think and once it’s all done, I feel like I’ve accomplished something.

This then gives me the confidence to return to my work more motivated.

Finishing a project

I think one of the reasons I get into these low mood states is because I have so many outstanding projects that I haven’t completed. When I’m overwhelmed with objectives, it becomes harder to process what needs to be done.

In my case, I had several non-work-related projects. I hadn’t made any progress on these projects in weeks due to my exhaustion from work and my overall lack of enthusiasm. Then, one day I decided I would pick a project back up and see it through. I chose to build a website that I’d been neglecting.

To help me achieve this, I split the work into small chunks so that I only had to work on a small part of the website each day. By doing this, I ensured that I was making some progress on the website regularly.

The small chunks allowed me to see the end of the project in clear focus. This gave me a nice confidence boost, which re-ignited some of my creative flair.

Creative writing

Creative writing is something that everyone should experiment with, even if only in small doses. I’m not saying you need to write a full book, script, or poem. You don’t even have to finish what you write. Creative writing is a great exercise for a creative mind. It gets your mind working.

This can be easily achieved by trying out some Flash Fiction prompts, which usually prompt you to write a 500-1000 word piece of writing.

You don’t even have to publish what you write. For me, the creative writing process is therapeutic. It gets me thinking about new ideas and concepts. It helps me rediscover my vocabulary and apply words in new ways.

Exercise

People exercise for different reasons. Of course, the number one reason should usually be because of the health benefits. But exercise can also alter your mood and boost your creativity.

Exercise improves circulation in the body, which enhances our memory and thinking. Not only does your body get a workout, but the parts of your brain that facilitate information processing and memory functions do too.

Because of my Sickle Cell, I’m usually limited in the amount of exercise I can do, but I’ve managed to stick to a routine of push-ups and cardio every other day.

Exercise is something you need to be consistent with to feel the results. And I’ve noticed that since I’ve stuck to this every-other-day routine, my productivity (and mental health) has improved.

Go on a day trip

Nothing works like getting away for a day to see new surroundings. I’m someone who loves big cities and buildings, so I typically like to escape to Central London for a while when I need to get my creative spark back.

However, a friend introduced me to Cambridge. I enjoyed it because it has nice bookshops. On top of that, Cambridge has some astounding architecture to take in. This was almost like my trip to Bath (the picture above was taken in Bath).

No matter what your interests are, visiting somewhere new will always give you room to explore those interests in new ways.

Sometimes all you need is new surroundings to awaken something within you.