Ever been stuck in a creative rut? Have you ever wondered what the next step is when you're faced with a new project but need some guidance to get started? Can't figure out who to ask for help or advice?
If so, then this blog post is for you. In this blog post I'll walk through strategies that can be used in order to find your next focus.
Before I do that, though, I want to tell you a little story. This is the story of a year…
In the fall of 2008 my college friend and I decided to start an online magazine. We had a great idea and we thought it would be easy to get started but things quickly went downhill. We were used to doing things on our own so when we couldn't figure out how we could pull it off (and not just run into certain problems with technology) we became frustrated.
Our plans changed every few days and every new thing looked more difficult than the last one so in a way, we became lost .
We tried to come up with a solution. We first tried finding guest writers. That didn't work. Next, we decided that we needed to have sponsors for our magazine. But then the question was: Who would sponsor an online magazine? How much should we charge them? Would they even be interested in what we had to offer?
And then it dawned on us: This might not be something that's worth investing our time and money into.
So, frustrated and with no real creative solutions, we scrapped the idea altogether and abandoned it…
And it wasn't until two months ago when I started taking notes for this blog post that I thought of this story again. All of a sudden, everything clicked in my head. It's as if a lightbulb went on and I understood why we failed.
So, what was it that enlightened me? Well, it was the story itself.
The title "Are You Stuck?" might make it sound like I'm about to tell you how to get moving. However, this blog post is not about the "how" but the "why". As in: Why do we become stuck? And how do we get out of that state?
To answer these questions, let's check out how we define being stuck:
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines being stuck as " unable to proceed or advance ".
In other words, we become stuck when we run into a problem that makes it difficult for us to continue what we're doing.
However, there's one thing that I forgot to mention: Technology.
It wasn't until I was telling my college friend about what I was up to that we realized how technology had gotten in the way of our creative process. I mean, we were used to doing everything on our own and not having problems with technology. So when technology became a factor, it obstructed our creative thinking and ability to act (or "proceed or advance").
So, how do we solve this problem?
We need to find a way to be free from technology!
Without technology, we won't have problems with getting stuck. We won't be hindered by technology and our creative process will more easily flow.
What if I told you that you don't have to give up on your creative project if you run into a problem with technology? What if I told you that it's possible for you to make technological problems disappear? What would you think? That's why I'm writing this blog post!
I'm going to show you how it's possible for the solution behind these problems to become a tool for improving your creativity.