Creativity Killers

• Stress:Although some of us work best under pressure, constant low-level stress will suck away your creative juice.
• Comfort: Staying in your comfort zone will not yield creative results.
• Criticism: Criticism that drags you down will eventually break your spirit. You are better off in the long run getting away from a client who micromanages your work, or who dwells in the negative, or who tries to make you feel incompetent. However, constructive feedback is essential if you are trying to make a living as a creative professional. The best clients will know how to deliver criticism in a positive way that makes the end result even better. Most of the time, the best answer to criticism is: do better work.
  
• Distractions: When you are in the creative zone, you completely lose track of time. Anything that brings you back to real time will stop the flow: a phone ringing, an appointment at a specific time, a chore that needs to be done, a bill that has to be paid. Take care of the necessary tasks before you start a creative project so that they don't hang in your mind. Make list of everything else so that your mind can let go. Then get away from the phone, and don't check your email.
• Judgment: In the creative realm, you don't make judgments. Your work is neither good not bad, it just is. After you have fully expressed yourself, you go back and judge, edit, and refine.
  
• Insecurity: “Who are you to call yourself an artist? What makes you think you can rise above the average? You've never done anything extraordinary before.” We are all creative by nature, and we are all capable of extraordinary things. Remove negative thoughts and distance yourself from negative people. The struggle to stay positive and confident will always be with you, but it is worth the effort.
• Television: Has been proven scientifically to reduce brain activity.
• Perfectionism: Trying too hard is self-defeating. Creative people are not afraid to take risks, and not afraid to fail. Even the greatest artists have laid some eggs. Furthermore, some of the greatest creative breakthroughs were mistakes. Recognize that everything you create has merit. You will learn and improve the more you create.
  

Creativity Triggers

Need to jumpstart the creative process? Here are some ways to spark your imagination:

• Synthesis: add something. Introduce a new element, either similar or completely different.
• Subtraction: take something away. Make it simpler, purer. Reduce it to the bare essence.
• Connection: make connections from your subject to other subjects. Keep moving outward until you find a connection that no one has made before.
• Sheer quantity: how many ways can you think of to approach the problem? Use a sketchbook to come up with 100 possibilities.
• Nature: the source of creativity. Get as close to nature as your environment will allow. Let yourself become immersed in it.
• Complementary medium: for a different perspective on your problem. If you are a visual artist, listen to music. If you are in business, go to a museum. If you are a writer, examine architecture. You get the idea.
• Take a nap: your subconscious mind works while you sleep.