How do you get yourself into creative mode?
When I work with business owners sometimes one of the real challenges is getting out of the mindset of the day-to-day of the business and to get some space to really be able to make sense of stuff, and plan.
Here’s how I manage getting into the creative zone (as my bread and butter is getting the ideas flowing as often as possible).
- Know your times. I know I won’t do my best creative work at 2pm. That’s probably a better time for me to return calls or emails, or do other admin tasks. I look at my calendar and schedule blocks of creative time. Usually first thing in the morning when the words and ideas flow more easily.
- Get out of the usual routine. Sometimes the familiar can be a distraction. If you have some really big ideas to grapple with you could book time away from your business. That could be a weekend retreat – or it could simply be working from a coffeehouse that’s not your usual (so you won’t bump into people you know)! Personally, I sometimes just move out of my home office and sit on the floor in the living room with paper and pens and just scribble. Because a different perspective brings ….. well …. a different perspective………..
- Give yourself some prompts/themes, and throw different ideas down. Edit later – just write down all that stuff that’s lurking in your brain. Take lying down and staring/daydreaming breaks if you need to. Just decouple your brain from the ordinary.
