3 Steps to Re-Inspire Yourself When You Feel Stuck in a Creative Lull

Est Read Time: 6 Minutes

You’ve been sitting at your computer for hours, staring at your screen. You’ve flipped back and forth between all your social media channels, double checking your email, and other irrelevant tasks you do out of procrastination.

You’re feeling stuck.

You have no inspiration for content and really just don’t feel like doing it at all. But yet you need to get content done for your brand so you can stay consistent so you stay put, scolding yourself for allowing you to procrastinate.

The longer you sit the more frustrated you begin to feel. So just to get it done and out of the way you try to force yourself to create content which ends up being misaligned from your audience and brand. (Making all that time spent on creating it a waste…)

I’m telling you from experience that there are things you can do to help get yourself feeling inspired all over again!

I know that as a content creator for myself and several other brands I have many days where I just am not feeling creative or inspired. I struggle to get started and hammer out a bunch of content.

And I have most definitely been guilty of being unkind to myself when I cannot produce creative work on demand –especially when I’m trying to make deadlines!

That’s why I thought it would be important to go through a few ways to help inspire yourself when you feel stuck in a creative lull.

I’m sure you’ve heard other creators give some of the advice I’m about to give, but I’m going to say it again and again and again because this is so important.

So here are my suggestions to help inspire yourself.

1. Give Yourself Grace and Give Yourself Space

First and foremost, if you aren’t feeling creative or inspired give yourself grace.

Listen to your body and then give yourself some space from your work!

I cannot stress how important it is to listen to your body, especially when you are doing creative work.

Lean into the feelings your body is trying to express. When you give yourself grace and are forgiving when you just cannot create, you’ll immediately feel a sense of calm.

Don’t believe me? Give it a go!

And when you give yourself grace you’ll also need to give yourself space from your work. Don’t just acknowledge that you aren’t feeling inspired and creative and then try to push out work anyways because it won’t work.

You need to get up and move away from your work.

Leave your work space and go to a different room or outside and take a few moments to sit in peace and breathe.

And I guess I should say this: NO DAMN PHONE.

Your phone is your biggest distraction and your biggest creative killer.

I know when I’m feeling stuck and find myself sucked into social media I do the worst things I can: I compare myself to others, allow imposter syndrome to talk down to me, and just waste so much time. Which in the end just stresses me out so much more than I already was!

Now I’m not just feeling uninspired, I now also have lost a lot of confidence in myself and my work and am questioning my worth and my abilities.

No good comes from dwelling.

If you’re still feeling uninspired try this next:

2. Go For a Walk

This is my favourite thing to do when I am feeling stuck.

In work or in life, I love to take a walk about it!

Again, no phone!!!

I know you may argue saying you’d much rather take a walk listening to music or a podcast, but I am telling you that you need to do this unplugged. If you want better results, put the phone down, friend.

And I wouldn’t suggest just any walk, although just getting out and moving your body is super helpful, I would highly recommend taking a walk in nature.

We came from nature and I fully believe that nature is healing and inspiring. However, you don’t have to believe in that for you to find walking in nature relaxing and inspiring.

If the only walking option you have is in town that’s okay too, I just think that walking in nature is a little more powerful.

Just take a walk for at least 30 minutes.

And if you need to, bring a small notepad and pen so you can write everything that comes to you. I don’t like to chance forgetting my big ideas that come to me when I take an inspiration walk, so I like to have a notebook on me.

Giving yourself grace and space and then taking a walk should become your go-to solutions. And not just for a creative lull, for anything going on in your life –especially the super stressors!

If there is one thing I have had to really learn as a mom, business owner, and just human being is that I need to be more forgiving to myself. I need to stop expecting outrageous results from myself, especially when I am not feeling my best.

I struggle with depression and since having a baby in 2020 I have not been able to be consistent with my mental health. It’s been a total upward battle.

But you know what? The days where I felt so depressed I didn’t want to leave bed I gave myself grace.

I set a limit to how long I would stay in bed and then I would take the day slow and easy. I usually wasn’t able to do work until the afternoon after I’ve given myself space and grace.

Believe me, I know what it means to struggle with being creative and producing work consistently.

Now, I have one final step for you to do when you are going through a creative lull –but keep in mind that this last step works best when you’ve done the first two: Space and Grace and a 30 minute minimum walk.

3. Write Out All Your Ideal Client’s Struggles and Dreams

With the creative juices starting to flow again I suggest you sit down and write out all of your client’s struggles and dreams.

Think long and hard about what problems they are having, big and small! Anything and everything that comes to mind you need to write down.

Leave no stone unturned when it comes to brainstorming, friend!

Once you have a good list about what their struggles are you will need to write out all of their dreams. What do they hope to accomplish? Where to do they want to be in three months, one year, and two years?

I guarantee you’ll write out at least 5 things for both, but the more the better.

This is the information you are going to use for content!

That’s right, you just wrote out a whole ton of content ideas in one small brainstorming session, friend.

Take those struggles and pick one or two and then give them solutions! They don’t have to be complete solutions, but you can give them one or two actionable things to start solving their problems.

And then same with their dreams and goals!

Pick one or two dreams they have and tell them how you can help them get there and/or give them a few actionable steps to work towards their goals.

Remember, you’re making content for your ideal audience so it’s important to take a step back and get realigned with them. Remind yourself what your audience needs and then give it to them.

If you find yourself coming up blank then repeat steps 1 and 2. If you repeat these steps two or three times and you’re still feeling stuck then take the day off. 

Come back to it tomorrow after getting some real rest and try again. But if you’re still stuck then you may need to consider relooking at who your audience is.

I have a few great blog posts to help you get clear on your audience:

• Marketing Basics: Defining Your Audience
• 3 Tips to Help You Create Content that Connects With Your Audience Better
• What is an ICA?

I know that being consistent and creating content all the time can be overwhelming, stressful, and a complete burden. Especially because you already have so much to do!

But I want you to know that even social media managers feel this way. There are plenty of days where I need to inspire myself and get to creating!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out. Some days I just need to take a day off. And there is nothing wrong with coming back to it tomorrow if today is just not working.

Now, I’m not trying to enable you to not do any work at all. I just want you to know that you have permission to not be able to produce every single day.

We are all human beings, not robots.

Remember that you need to take care of yourself so that you can produce the best possible work! When you’re not doing well you won’t produce anything that is very good…

I hope that you have found this helpful and enlightening and hopefully it’s a great reminder to you to be kind to yourself and allow yourself to listen to your body.

May you find tons of success, prosperity, and joy this week 😄

-Jordan

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If you are struggling with maintaining your social media, consider taking a load off and handing it over to us! We live to create content 🤩 Just send me an email and let me know how we can help!