Joy Jennings, who has offered guests posts previously on dumb things that smart communicators do and marketing buzzwords, today brings us seven useful tips for getting back on track when you’re mentally tapped out at work:
1. Take a break. Surf the Web, chat with a co-worker, get away from your desk. Think about other things, clear your head and go back to your project refreshed.
2. Get inspired. Look at award-winning work, peruse your competitor’s work, visit an art museum, skim a favorite book. The great work of others will stimulate your creative side or help you see unexpected solutions.
3. Find external motivation. Examine your checking account balance, make out your Christmas list, re-read your last performance review. Everybody needs to pay the rent. Find the motivation that will flip a switch in your brain and get your ideas flowing.
4. Lose the tension. Exercise, take a nap, eat some chocolate, have a good cry, pop some Advil, master your domain. Got a headache? Feel your muscles tightening? Stand up and stretch, book a massage or find other, ahem, ways to cope.
5. Just start typing. Type your thoughts, type out the project’s mission, type up your notes. Free-flowing ideas can lead to your Aha! moment. Especially if you have a writing project, just start writing about your topic and see where it leads you.
6. Brainstorm. Sketch on paper, map out your ideas, get some coworkers into a conference room and pick their brains. In brainstorming, no ideas are bad — write everything down. Your lukewarm idea may spur a brilliant one.
And finally:
7. Just say no to drugs. You’re a grown-up with a deadline. Drugs including alcohol may relax you, but not in the way you need. Even caffeine can make you jittery, plus the acid in coffee can sour your stomach.
[Image by Diong at Objects and Pixels.]
Tags: creativity, workplace
Hmmm….I always thought that Budweiser’s tagline should be, “The solution to writer’s block.” But that’s just me.