Searching For Ideas - CMA NXT

January 06, 2025 3 min read

Searching for Ideas

In the beginning, it seemed like every time your fingertips grazed the keyboard, ideas flowed from your head to your hands and onto the screen. As time passed, however, ideas became more challenging to come by. You might feel like you would have a better chance of hitting the lottery than finding an idea that would resonate with the audience. So, what do you do when your keyboard and mouse are working but your creative process isn't?

According to an article by Kendra Cherry, MSEd, on verywellmind.com, there are 10 Psychological Tricks to Help Boost Your Creativity. Below are our top 7 tips from the list:

 
Walk

You may have heard that when you're struggling with something, you should research, look at things that inspire you, and stop. Stop everything and go out and do something else. If you're seated at work, a walk will allow you to get some exercise and distract you from the problem you're struggling to solve. 

Rewards

Consider setting a reward for finding the solution to your problem. If you have a reward in mind and it's something you want, you may find the motivation to start thinking differently. 

Surrounded by Inspiration

Being surrounded by things that inspire you may increase your chances of drawing inspiration directly from your environment. If your office or workspace doesn't inspire you, it's time to start putting up items like posters, books, movies, music, art, or anything else that will help you ignite that creative spark. 

Be Bored

According to the article, being bored encourages creative thinking because it forces your brain to find a solution to your boredom. So, put down your devices, turn the television off, and allow yourself to be bored to see what comes. 

Try Another Angle

Sometimes, the best way to solve a problem is to look at it from a different angle. You could start by returning to the original problem and looking at it as if you were a child, a grandparent, another gender, or another culture. They may all look at the situation differently – and that's exactly what you need. 

Channel Emotions 

According to Kendra's article, whether you're in a good mood or not – both emotions allow you to be creative. If you can channel your feelings and focus on the problem, you have a high chance of reinvigorating your creativity. 

Meditate

Have you ever tried meditation? While meditation is commonly used for relaxation, the article mentions that open-monitoring meditation can encourage the generation of new ideas. 

Bring it Back

Eric Maisel once said, "A creative block is a fear about the future, a guess about the dangers dwelling in the dark computer and the locked studio." Sometimes, there's nothing scarier than a deadline approaching when you're searching for ideas. There will be times when your creative process is out of whack. The tips above might be exactly what you need to approach the problem from a different perspective and bring your creativity back.  

Want more marketing career tips? Engage with us on LinkedIn or sign-up at CMA NXT to unlock free access to our exclusive video platform and subscribe to our biweekly e-newsletter. 



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