Creative thinking is arguably one of the most important skills for today. And tomorrow.
Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology claims that creativity is becoming even more valuable than technical skill as artificial intelligence (AI) outpaces human cognition002E
But as anyone working in creative industries knows, creativity can easily evaporate in the face of fear, time pressure, lack of discipline, and any number of other barriers.
I’ve experienced every barrier in the following list at one point or another. But so have you, because barriers to creativity are universal.
They plague debut novelists and award-winning writers alike.
The difference is that serial creators have learned to recognise these obstacles for what they are – and developed strategies to bulldoze through them anyway.
Here are the 6 most pernicious roadblocks and tips for overcoming them.
Holding the belief: I’m not creative
All of us have an estimated 6,000 thoughts each day and many of them are negative.
If you’re constantly telling yourself variants of, ‘I’m not creative’, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’, ‘There’s not an original thought in my head’, and ‘My best years are behind me’, it stands to reason that your creativity will be constrained.
It’s a classic self-fulfilling prophecy.
Of course, you’re not alone. Adobe’s ‘State of Create’ research has confirmed just how common it is for people – even people using a suite of creative tools, for God’s sake – to believe they’re not creative.
Its surveys of 5000 people conducted in 2012 and 2016 revealed that only 39% and 41%, respectively, would describe themselves as creative.
And only about 1 in every 4 respondents felt like they were fulfilling their creative potential.
This is because many writers and creatives operate from a fixed mindset, without even realising it.
Individuals with fixed mindsets believe, ‘I’m either creative/talented/gifted/insightful/skilled, or I’m not, and there’s not very much I can do about it.’
Those with growth mindsets say, ‘I can develop my abilities through effort and learning’.
How to change your fixed beliefs about your own creativity
Identify and disrupt your self-talk
Pay attention to the things you say about yourself. When you catch yourself thinking, ‘I’m terrible at this’ or ‘I’m not creative’, pause, take a breath, and try again. ‘I’m getting the hang of it’ and ‘I can learn new strategies’ are more helpful, realistic thoughts to cultivate.
People who believe creativity can be developed show better performance and persistence.
(In my very next blog post, I’ll be talking about the power of affirmations to boost your creativity. Sign up to become a subscriber to ensure you don’t miss it.)
Don’t worry, be happy
Research shows that positive emotions elicit greater creativity. If you’re in a good mood, you’re far more likely to generate unusual word associations, tell stories in refreshing ways, and enjoy greater flow than those who are low in mood.
For this reason, it’s important to take breaks – to have fun, go for walks, or watch comedy. Ensuring you have sufficient rest is another essential mood management strategy.
Build semantic connections
The associative theory of creativity argues that creative individuals have a richer semantic memory structure that allows broader associative search processes.
This leads to the combination of remote concepts into novel ideas.
Enhance your creativity by reading widely, exploring diverse topics, and weaving a richer knowledge base from which to draw from.
Fear (of failure, judgment, and success)
Creative work demands vulnerability, which in turn makes creators susceptible to fear and anxiety.
Recent research into ‘creativity anxiety’, a form of anxiety that emerges at the prospect of having to be creative, is associated with lower levels of real world creative achievement.
That makes it a hurdle on the road to creative potential, researchers note.
Fear comes in many flavours and can have deleterious effects on performance.
There’s the fear of failure – that your pitch or proposal or manuscript will be rejected, or that you’ll spend months on a project only to discover it’s a dud.
Then there’s the fear of judgment – that well-meaning critics will savage your words, that your family members will recognise themselves in your de-identified narrative, or that mean-spirited trolls will feast on your opinions.
Perhaps most insidious, though, is the fear of success.
If your work lands, will you be able to repeat the performance?
Are you a one-trick pony? Will you lose your privacy? Will you be unmasked as a fraud?
Read more about imposter syndrome here.
How to overcome fear and anxiety
Reframe rejection as data collection
A rejection isn’t a referendum on your worth as a writer.
It just provides information about what one editor needed at one point in time. (And, as I always like to tell myself, it’s a measure of that person’s exceptionally poor taste.)
Some of the most celebrated books today – including the Harry Potter series, Stephen King’s Carrie, and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies were rejected dozens of times before finally hitting their mark.
Rejection isn’t a measure of the quality of a work. It’s just a reminder that subjectivity reigns supreme in this business. You haven’t found the right editor/publisher/reader … yet.
Set process (instead of outcome) goals
Will an editor accept your pitch or a literary agent sign you up? It’s out of your hands.
But whether you send 10 pitches this week, pen 1000 words today, or write an outline by Friday? That ball’s totally in your court.
Focus your energy on what you can control, and let the chips fall where they may.
Find your tribe
Other members of the Australian Society of Travel Writers have answered my questions, cheered me on, shared valuable information, and dragged me out of a slump more times than I’d care to admit.
For that reason, I’m a big believer in joining writing groups, participating in online communities, and attending industry events to connect with like-minded people.
When you’re surrounded by others who know exactly what it’s like to have doors slammed in your face, see editorial relationships unravel, and secretly worry that your writing may suck, fear and anxiety becomes a little less isolating.
You’ll learn that everyone else, at some point, has been hanging on by the skin of their teeth too.
Time pressure
If you’re anything like me, the work that feeds your creative soul doesn’t pay the bills.
Often, I find myself writing between the cracks of a demanding day job, family obligations, housework, and a long list of other demands (hello, Christmas shopping) screaming for urgent attention.
Against this backdrop, carving out time to undertake dedicated creative work can feel like an unaffordable luxury.
And geeing myself up to ‘be creative’ on the clock generally doesn’t work.
The research suggests that time pressure reduces creative thinking because it forces your brain to default to familiar patterns, at a time you most need it to be exploring the fresh and unfamiliar.
How to overcome time pressure
Embrace a ‘near enough is good enough’ philosophy
It may not feel comfortable at first but give yourself permission to lower your standards in domains that aren’t important to you.
Put your creative work higher on the list of priorities than housework and other life tasks.
Yes, this might mean that emails go unanswered for a day or two, the floor remains unmopped, and the local Thai takeaway does a roaring trade when you’re on deadline.
Particularly for women, who’ve been conditioned to believe they should keep the home fires burning while earning an income, letting shit slide can be exceedingly difficult.
But it’s essential.
Use time constraints as creative fuel
I’ve previously written about how constraints can fuel creativity.
So even if you don’t have a full free day, set a timer for 25 minutes and see how much writing you can crank out in that window.
This is the essence of the Pomodoro Technique, which can work well for writers because it removes the pressure to have hours of uninterrupted time stretching out in front of you.
Writing in The Art of Creative Thinking, Rod Junkins says restrictions force the brain to come up with unique and unusual solutions.
‘We must make the most of the limitations imposed upon us and search for ways around, under and over barriers,’ he writes.
Use task batching
Are you writing, editing, conducting research, preparing BAS statements, posting on social media, invoicing, putting on a load of laundry, answering phone calls, and responding to emails, all in the same hour?
You’re likely haemorrhaging time and frittering away focus each time you switch tasks.
Research conducted by Economist Impact and commissioned by Dropbox in 2023 revealed that the average Australian knowledge worker loses 600 hours each year to lost focus caused by interruptions, distractions, household chores and demands from others sharing their space.
Dedicating specific time blocks to specific activities can help you claw back valuable time, energy and focus for creative work.
Skills deficits
Here’s the painful truth: sometimes the barrier between you and your creative potential isn’t psychological or logistical.
Sometimes it’s because your skills aren’t up to scratch … yet. (The ‘yet’ is important.)
Maybe you’re brilliant at historical, political or cultural research, but struggle to integrate the facts you uncover without info-dumping.
Perhaps your observational skills are well-honed, but you can’t establish a sense of place without a long and lumbering preamble.
You might be able to capture your minute-by-minute individual experiences in detail but have no clue how to find the universal in the specific.
Or (and this is common) maybe you don’t grasp the finer points of the industry, like how to write a compelling pitch, fashion a unique story from a group press trip, or keep PRs onside.
The good news is that all skills can be learned.
How to overcome skill deficits
Get specific about what you don’t know
‘I don’t know how to write’ is too vague to be useful.
‘I have difficulty condensing a week-long trip into 1000 words without losing narrative momentum’ or ‘I struggle to generate multiple stories from a single trip’ gives you something concrete to work on.
Make a list of your specific weaknesses, then target the ones that are holding you back.
Find a mentor or join a critique group
Sometimes, of course, you don’t know what you don’t know.
In that case, getting advice through a from a mentor, or joining a critique group, can prove invaluable.
Fresh pairs of eyes can identify blind spots and tell you not just that something isn’t working, but why it isn’t working and how you might fix it.
Specific feedback accelerates learning faster than almost anything else.
The ASTW offers free, two-month writing or PR mentorships for members. How do I know this? I’m one of many mentors.
Steal (or copy) like an artist
Want to write better leads? Collect 50 brilliant first sentences and analyse what makes them captivating.
Struggling with structure? Reverse-engineer three articles in your target publication.
Copying (as distinct from plagiarising) can improve skills, in that you study work that you admire, figure out how the writer achieved their effects, and attempt to replicate the technique.
Lack of resources
Creative work doesn’t require anywhere near the level of high fixed overheads as other businesses, say, like airlines, hospitals or mining companies.
Yet there are still ample costs that can quickly add up –books, courses, conferences, subscriptions, software, website hosting, and the often-overlooked opportunity cost of hours spent creating rather than earning.
Other resources can also be in short supply – a quiet space to work, extra pairs of hands to help with childcare or chores, emotional support, freedom from distraction.
Creative industries like to pretend that talent and hard work are all you need.
Yet many freelance writers have financial cushions, even if they’re coy about it – a day job, a high-earning spouse, supportive parents, a sugar daddy, or a whopping redundancy payout.
Acknowledging this barrier honestly rather than pretending it doesn’t exist can keep it from killing your creativity.
How to overcome a lack of resources
Get creative with free and low-cost alternatives
You can get by without the latest software when free alternatives like Google Docs exist.
You don’t need to pay to attend writers’ festivals when it’s free to volunteer at one.
And you can save a bundle if, instead of buying books on impulse, you borrow from the local library. (Libraries which offer quiet rooms, free wifi, and a general celebration of the written word are also a good place to work if you don’t have an interruption-free space at home.)
Work on distinguishing ‘nice-to-haves’ from genuine needs, and hunt for creative solutions for the essentials.
Build reciprocal relationships
Creative communities often operate on informal barter systems.
Offer to beta-read someone’s manuscript in exchange for feedback on yours. Trade babysitting with another writer whose kids are the same age as yours. Swap your copywriting skills in exchange for website design.
Not everything requires money when you have community. Just make sure the intended trade works for both parties so no-one feels ripped off or resentful.
Invest where it matters
If you’re serious about breaking into new markets, expanding your toolkit, or building a sustainable career, investing in a course can save years of trial and error.
Baulking at the cost can feel sensible in the short term, but consider the opportunity cost associated with staying stuck, going around in circles, or moving in the wrong direction.
The right training can provide clarity about what works, offer structured guidance that’s difficult to replicate on your own, and give access to a community that keeps you on track.
Lack of discipline
You might have the time, the resources, the talent and the skills.
But if you lack the discipline to sit down and be consistent, it’s all for naught.
Discipline bridges the gap between intention and action, and many writers find that they have much less of it than they need.
It’s not about white knuckling your way through every writing session or pushing yourself to be ‘productive’.
It’s about creating systems and habits that keep you in constant contact with the muse.
Read more about what Stephen King said about the muse in Who are the girls in the basement?
How to handle lack of discipline
Start with the smallest possible step
Forget about writing for two hours every night if you’re currently doing zero.
Start with 15 minutes after you’ve loaded the dishwasher.
Make it such a small commitment that it’s a no-brainer. Keep it going. No matter how tired you are, you probably have 15 minutes in you.
Once that habit is locked in, start extending the amount of time you spend at your desk.
Use implementation intentions
Decision fatigue often kills discipline, So, introduce specificity into your decision-making.
Research shows that plans in the format of ‘If X, then Y’ dramatically boost follow-through.
This means that ‘I’ll write more’ is unlikely to happen. But, ‘After I wake up at 6am and make a coffee, I’ll sit down to write for 30 minutes.’
Slash the ‘getting started’ friction
Before you conclude a writing session, quickly jot down some points on what you plan to do next. Leave your notebook and pen on your pillow so you see it before bed. Tidy your writing space so it’s ready for the next day.
Create a familiar ritual that signals, ‘It’s time to write,’ whether that involve brewing a pot of tea, lighting a candle, or starting with a writing prompt.
Read this for more tips on how to supercharge your creativity with writing rituals.
The less energy it takes to dive in, the more likely you are to do so.
Over to you … which barrier resonates most with your experience right now? And what’s one strategy you’re going to try this week to push through it?
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