I already mentioned several times in my articles how my time is quite limited lately because I'm away for work and I spent most of my time in the kitchen, working, and so I can't really do a lot of the things that I wish to do, such as writing, designing, coding, etc.
However, once in a while I do get into that mood, and it sometimes annoys me that although I'm in the right frame of mind and I have the desire to be productive and to do something that I consider important, I cannot seem to get the right ideas that could help me do what I wish to do.
This happens most whenever I wish to write an article. Let's say it's Monday, my free day, and after going to a nearby city to do some shopping I come home and I sit down in front of my laptop, wanting to write and publish something on Hive.
Now, everything's great so far. But what if I cannot think of anything to write about? What if I cannot get an idea for an article, or at least one that I didn't write about in the past? What do I do if I am in a creator's block, and I cannot seem to get out of it in the moment?
Well, what I used to do in the past was to stop for a moment, and do something else, something relaxing, or distracting such as scrolling through Social Media or seeking inspiration on Pinterest.
While that worked at times, it didn't always get me what I wanted in a reasonable amount of time. Sometimes I was spending 30+ minutes on Pinterest searching for an image to get me that idea that I was trying to get, or on Facebook trying to see if someone's post would give me what I wanted.
In the end, there's a single thing that always helped me, a single action that to this day is my main way of getting the right ideas, of getting something done - putting myself in the right context.
What do I mean by that?
Well, let's put it this way - it's really hard to begin doing something that requires effort and attention when your mind and body are doing something completely different.
For example, I write mostly about self development and things I can do to improve my work, my effectiveness, my ability to do things really well, and so on. I like to think about those topics and I feel satisfied with myself when I get a new idea that helps me do more, in less time, or with less effort.
Now, if I wish to write an article about any of the things I mentioned above, the most obvious thing I should do is to try and find an idea for an article in which I discuss something related to those topics. But if I cannot get any idea, then I might need a bit of inspiration.
At this point, choosing to go on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest in order to get the inspiration that I want is one of the worst things I can do. Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest have very little to do with what I want, and the chances are that I'm not gonna get any type of content or reference to what I'm interested in.
The better idea however is to put myself in the context of the thing that I want to do.
I can pick up a book such as "Are you Indispensable?" by Seth Godin and read about how to become really hard to replace as an employee or entrepreneur in order to get a few ideas about how I can improve what I do to have more impact on other people. Or, I can pick up "The Organized Mind" by "Daniel J. Levitin and read about how to be more organized and how to be more effective in my day to day life.
I can go on YouTube and watch philosophy videos, or a video with a lecture from Jordan Peterson about responsibility and how to become a better man. I can watch a movie about a personality who got very far through hard work and dedication in order to get a bit of inspiration on that topic.
I could read about different people who did great things throughout history and analyze their habits and their actions and try to think about how I could implement them in my life in order to improve myself and my surroundings.
All those things will 100% result in a much better idea than 30 minutes of scrolling through social media. I will probably get an idea faster and maybe even figure out most of what I want to write in the article from just doing one of those things.
And the same applies to any other activity that I decide to do.
If I want to create a 3D environment in Blender, then going through Pinterest and looking at 2D art won't help me get the idea that I need, or at least not in a reasonable amount of time. Instead, I can go on ArtStation and search for 3D environments. I can go on YouTube and look at some speeded up videos of people building environments in order to see how others build certain elements, which might help me get an idea for something I wish to build myself.
If I want to be productive at work and have the desired motivation to work well in the kitchen (which is my current job), then I can go on YouTube and look at people who work amazingly well in the kitchen and try to analyze how they do it and what I should change to become better. I can read the stories of others who worked in the same environment as me, how they managed to cope with the bad and what they did to improve things, both around them and within them.
The idea is simple, and yet it's something we rarely do. If we want to do something specific, and do it well, then we should put ourselves in the right context. Want to write? Then read, and watch videos about the topic you want to approach. Want to do art? Look at art that inspires you within the area that you wish to create. Want to improve your workflow? Look at others who are better at you and try to learn from them.
Wanting to do something and then allowing your mind to focus on a completely different thing, such as social media, or random funny YouTube videos or whatnot might give you the impression that you're making progress, but you rarely do. If you wish to take things more seriously, then begin to think about the context you need to be in and the actions you must perform in order to get in the needed state to do what you have to do.