Overcoming Brain Farts

Ever have one of those days where things just aren't clicking? You've got a stack of projects to do sitting on your list. Mostly creative tasks that require brainpower and - yes - creative thinking. Creativity is what you do though right? That's how you do your job or write that next groundbreaking blog post is with your overwhelming plethora of creativity.

Sometimes though, you just have a brain fart.

These projects have deadlines. There's product or newsletter copy that needs to be sent out tomorrow. That blog isn't going to write itself. You have deadlines and a creative block: the perfect storm. You've got to get it done but you don't even know how to get started. You try to force creativity out like you would a...well you get the idea. How do you overcome this mental hurdle without face-planting in failure?

Leave it alone. Procrastinate if you must.

Procrastination? Isn't that counter productive?

Actually, procrastination will help improve your productivity, just in a different manner. In his blog post, Tanveer Naseer talks about how to deal with procrastination and make it work for you. The important thing to remember here is that you aren't putting off work out of laziness, you are getting away from it for a bit. He talks about working on a less important task, like re-organizing your desk, filing needed paperwork to fill that time void so it's at least productive in another sense.

Good procrastination isn't about wasting time, it's about re-allocating it.

Okay so you've completely re-organized your entire office and have done a plethora of meaningless tasks. Still nothing eh?

It's a perfect time to consume some content in other places. Read other blogs. Catch up on your backed-up RSS feeds.  The easiest trap for all of us to fall into is getting so caught up in creating our own content that we forget to consume. Consumption of information is key to re-fueling our creative minds. It inspires us to come up with new ideas. Churning out content without consuming some here and there is like running for days on end but not taking in any water or food for energy.

Eventually the well is going to run dry. Maybe your brain is asking for a re-fuel.

I've actually hit a day like this today. Had a hard time coming up with content for our company's newsletter and new blog postings. I re-channeled my efforts elsewhere, did some mindless work, read trade publications and...blogged about running out of ideas about blogging.

Ironic huh?

Don't force your way through those brain farts. Just let them happen. Forcing something haphazard out in a hurry will do you more harm than good in the long term. The good ideas will come when you aren't trying to think about them.

How do you all overcome creative blocks?