If you are a content writer, Drive Traffic Media, an SEO company in Orange County, believes you have probably experienced a writer’s block. The laptop is on, but the words are not flowing on the screen. It is you that is frozen, unproductive, and dilly-dallying around just hoping (and praying) for a miracle to happen.
You are stuck in a creative rut and you are aching for the cursor to stop flashing in judgment. So, instead of sitting in front of your nitpicking cursor, most likely pulling your hair out in total frustration at this point, have a quick look at what writers do when they are literally lost for words.
Go Find Some Toys
Get some LEGO blocks that you can use to build a house. If you want bigger blocks, DUPLO works best. On each block, jot down one word or phrase that corresponds to the products and services you are trying to write about. For instance, think about the attributes, content themes, personas, stages in the buyer’s journey, customer challenges, and anything else that corresponds to your content marketing efforts. If you want to go as far as to color-code them you can, and start playing around with them.
Don’t be afraid to assemble random blocks, then have a good look at the links. Note them down. Find out if they can come together to form new content viewpoints or ideas. When you are ready, take apart these blocks and repeat the process. If you want, you can implement some rules too. For instance, build one persona-related block, another based on the customer journey stage, two challenge blocks, and one product block.
The whole point of all this is to remove yourself from linear thinking and mess around with connections you would never have imagined before. You can clearly examine and expand all the combinations and outcomes to see if they are actually feasible.
Get Your Hands On A Pen
Although with all the technology we are surrounded with, the physical act of writing may seem a bit old-fashioned for many of us. However, writing with a pen on paper brings on a great sense of empowerment and motivation. In a nutshell, when pen meets paper, the ideas start to trickle out.
Discover That One Thing
When writers of the Orange County SEO company start to feel uninspired about a task, they try to find that one thing that is one-of-kind and engaging. This can be tricky, but usually one fragment of the project can associate with your life or be interesting to you. Even if this notion is only slightly relevant, it will usually get your mind out of a rut.
Get Coloring
If you find yourself in a work downturn, get out your crayons, and start coloring. It’s a good way to lower anxiety, release stress, and increase mental focus. Also, it’s tons of fun and supports a creative attitude. Make sure to have a few adult coloring books at hand and a set of good quality colored pencils.
When you are coloring, you are brought back to childhood, when you were at your most imaginative and creative. You have to select colors that make the pages come to life and it is very therapeutic. You will find that after coloring for 15 to 20 minutes, you will feel re-energized and can’t wait to get cracking with your writing again.
Leave Your Environment
Sometimes it is a good idea to take a little break from your everyday working environment. Remove yourself, a colleague, and even your team from the place that is bogging your down and go somewhere offsite to have an effective brainstorming session. Ensure you are in an area where nobody has access to work emails or any other distractions that usually influence processes in the office. Even if you just manage to take one hour out of your day, you can start up the engine to crank out fruitful ideas.
Stay Alerted
It is a good idea to set up Google alerts based on topics you constantly write about. Every morning, check out the articles to get the relevant news articles that link to the content you are writing about. The article pieces that you discover might contest your own opinion or give you a better awareness of humdrum topics.
Force Yourself To Write
This might sound a little counterproductive and a little bit silly, but sometimes the best thing you can do to beat writer’s block is to start writing. Start to type out whatever comes to your head even if you are writing things that don’t make sense or you have no idea what you are writing about. It takes some time, but soon enough you will be thinking up words to write about faster than you can type them out.
Get Meditating
Before your mind reaches that creativity block, practice daily meditation. Try to find free online videos and apps that can help you do this. Meditation is a good way to help you clear your mind from unnecessary noise, lower stress levels, remain focused, and increase your creative thinking.
Don’t Be Afraid To Be Human
It is good to get yourself out there to experience art, events, exhibits, store openings, and concerts. It makes for great, creative content because it is building from a collection of human experiences and it is easy to translate that through content that reverberates with your audience.
Switch It Up
It’s good every now and then to change up the format of your content. If you have been writing a lot of storytelling content, alternatively try writing an informative article. You can even shift to a different medium to help you get new ideas. For example, you can work on a video rather than a blog post. This simple action can open the door to an abundance of ideas.
Wash Your Dirty Dishes
Doing light chores can bring out the idea you need for content ideas or a new product. Believe it or not, hand washing your dishes can help you relax your mind and get the ideas to flow better.
If you can’t let go of your dishwasher, there are the other tips to help you get out of your creative rut. The best thing to do is to mix it up and find the best ways to rectify each writing downturn you are confronted with.