I like this post that ran on Copyblogger and in PR Daily about creativity.
Maybe I should have just left a comment.
But the post, which outlines creativity killers, missed a key insight.
Specifically, that creativity is near impossible when you are tired or have been working longer/harder than usual for a sustained period of time.
I am totally in this position now, and have next to nothing in the “creativity tank”.
My bet is that your most creative ideas – be these for blog posts, PR stunts or your kid’s birthday party do not come when you are overtired and overstressed.
Quite the opposite actually – these times are when you are LEAST creative (if you are at all like me)
So, you wanna write that amazing blog post, or put together a guerrilla marketing activity that is gonna turn mad heads and get tonnes of press, don’t waste time racking your brain when you are running on empty.
Stop working. Go exercise. Read fiction. Watch sports. Enjoy a movie. Go eat a great meal. Have sex. Anything that is not stressful or work related. You’ll be surprised how quickly that elusive lightning bolt hits you.
Am I right?
Jackson, Agree.. they missed exhaustion as a limit to creativity. Being too close to something, without taking that step back and to unplug. Forgive the link, I wrote about this last year http://bit.ly/cRBOrM It’s good to turn off for a while, see if something else inspires you in a different way. Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks for sharing the link Davina. Great post you wrote!
Having just come back from a week-long vacation free of any need for creativity, I agree that it’s necessary to recharge when running on empty. To be constantly creative and “on” all the time is exhausting. I find that with exhaustion comes clumsiness and forgetfulness, which begets crappy content and ideas. While some people have personalities that can feed off this sort of energy, I am more of the camp that needs to sit back from time to time and get my stuff together before plowing ahead.