3 Powerful Tips for Curing Creative Block

Written By Andrew Aviles

“Learn to love what you’ve been taught to fear.” - Felix Baumgartner

In today’s creative essay, we are going to explore 3 powerful tips to cure creative block. These are topics I have explored and experimented with often and found great success when I embrace these tips. If you enjoy these creative topics, click here to join my mailing list. I promise to protect your information from foreign spy balloons.

1. REMIX YOUR ROUTINES

In my last post on finding more creative time, I mentioned mixing up your routines. Stepping outside of your comfort zone can help you think in new and different ways. Try new experiences, travel to new places, and learn how things work.

Part of cultivating creativity is building a well of experiences and ideas to pull from. If you only do what’s comfortable, you will find yourself stuck in life and in your creativity.

I have found that even little things like finding new walking paths, listening to music I am not familiar with, or talking to people I don’t have common interests with has expanded my perspective exponentially. So find something that forces you out of your routine and see how it impacts your day and your creative work.

2. EMBRACE YOUR FEARS

When I was a child, I was afraid of swimming in water. When I finally pushed past those fears, you couldn’t get me out of the water whether it was a bath, a pool, or the ocean itself! What started as a gripping fear of water is now a limitless source of healing and inspiration for me.

There is a quote I’ve seen often, “FEAR IS A LIAR.” It often is. Sometimes the things that we are the most afraid of are things that we desperately need to be doing the most. Fear of failure is often a culprit of creative block, but it is through failure that we succeed.

It’s been said to take 10,000 hours to master a creative discipline. Often the road ahead itself can be what is causing fear too, but I would take that quote with a grain of salt, because that 10,000 hour path is exponential and the first few hours of showing up regularly are the hardest. The other 9,000 hours are just reinforcing the fundamentals and embracing the joy and curiosity of a creative life.

3. SHUT UP AND PAINT

Throughout my college art classes, there was always a certain type of student; I’m not naming anyone in particular, as there was always at least one student like this every semester. The people I am talking about can talk all day, philosophize, and be highly opinionated about art, but when it came down to doing the work, they were extremely lazy and often came up with excuses. One of my teachers said something that is so simple but always stuck with me; 

“Hey, sometimes you gotta just shut up and paint.”

This promptly put them in their place, put a smile on my face, and became my own inner mantra when I am lazy, tired, or experiencing a creative block. Sometimes you truly just need to shut up and paint, or write, or whatever you are trying to do. I have found that pushing past these barriers breaks the creative blocks and I find a new creative wind.

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS…

In conclusion, maintaining a curious and open mind is the main key to staying creative. Ask questions, explore new topics, and try to see the world from different perspectives. Embrace your fears and you may learn to love them. And when you find yourself blocked, lazy, or tired, remember to just shut up and paint.

It takes bravery to share art and insight, and the book “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon definitely helped me! Audible has enabled me to listen to great books like this one while driving, working, and exercising. Click here to try Audible and get your first book for free! Audible is a service I’ve personally been subscribed to and have used for many years and I highly recommend it!

You can also show support by checking out my favorite Creative Tools on Amazon:


Andrew Aviles
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How to Find Time for Creative Work