Creative burnout happens frequently for entrepreneurs, as we are constantly forced to be creative when marketing our businesses and creating products or services. Add Covid fatigue on top of a constant need to come up with new ideas and you have the perfect recipe for creative burnout.
Symptoms of creative burnout range from struggling to create engaging social media posts that you like and that are cohesive, to not being able to formulate a single idea at all!
If you’re looking to re-ignite that creative spark, here are four ways that we find work for us to get our creative mojo running again.
Keep a notebook or spreadsheet for your ideas
One thing we’ve learned working with other entrepreneurs is that often times they are overwhelmed with the number of ideas that come to them. Keep a notebook on hand or an excel spreadsheet where you can jot down your ideas as they come. Time is precious as a small business owner, and you may not have time to always act out on your ideas. When you’re feeling blocked and lacking creativity, pull out your document and have a look at the ideas you’ve been setting aside.
There may be an idea there that you can get excited about, OR those concepts may generate another idea for you to explore!
Unleash your creativity in other forms
Many entrepreneurs have a secondary passion, like writing or painting. By taking a step back from your business and diving into something you love, you’ll find the whole experience very cathartic. As you unleash your creativity through another outlet, it allows you to calm down, relax, ENJOY your surroundings, which leads to more creativity in the workplace.
Even if you’re not a creative type, listen to your favourite music and dance around, do some arts and crafts with your kids, or maybe sign up for a class to learn something new!
Change up your surroundings
I don’t know about you, but working from home since October in the same office space has been draining in every possible way. Staring at the same four walls day in and day out can leave me feeling drained creative wise. I find getting out for a walk during my lunch, moving to another room in the house to work, or even working while on Zoom with a team member have really helped to boost my morale and break through that creativity block when I most need it.
Why not take your laptop down by the water and hotspot your phone? Change it up, get some fresh air, and come back to the office feeling refreshed, creative and inspired!
Tap into your “why”
This is the single most important advice we could ever give a fellow entrepreneur. We often have so much to do on our plate that we lose sight of why we started our business in the first place. Take some time to mull over your why, maybe with some wine or a cup of coffee. Tap into your roots, your rhyme, your reason, and you’ll often times find that this helps you fall back in love with your business.
When your vision is clear on why you’re in business in the first place, you’ll feel ready to come back to the table with some fresh ideas.
These are just some of the ways that we break free from our creative burnout, and we hope that they serve you well! Remember, even though sometimes you feel defeated, beaten down and uninspired, these are all just moments in time that lead to something bigger. Keep your chin up, keep pushing, and show the world what kind of entrepreneur you really are!