How to Keep Creativity Flowing When You're Unmotivated to Do Work.

Imagining ideas, concepts, designs and plans and turning them into a reality is no small feat. It can be hard to be creative and innovative especially in a work setting. Maintaining something is a lot easier than creating it. Innovation and creativity in today’s workplace is needed to give the abundant amount of similar business’s their competitive edge. Having the ability to express your creativity or artistic vision at work is becoming more of the norm in the workforce. It’s great that businesses want to have more innovation but with the amount of creativity that it takes to keep things creative, sometimes coming up with new ideas and fresh approaches to things becomes difficult.  

With creativity being needed to the capacity that it is in business today, it’s easy to become uninspired or lack as much creativity when you’re constantly having to be creative. It’s a very common occurrence while working and happens to everyone. Personally, I’ve experienced lacking creativity when working on software projects. Sometimes it’s hard to have innovative ideas when your mind is constantly trying to think of new approaches, concepts or ways to make the project better. It can be tiring and can result in feeling unmotivated and uninspired to finish, let alone start a project. So here are some tips on how to keep the creativity and innovation flowing when you are lacking motivation at work.  

Find Your Purpose. 

Take a moment to reevaluate your process- What you’re doing, the purpose behind it, your purpose of doing it and the outcome you are expecting. This can help you determine what’s blocking your creativity and how to fix it. This reevaluation break can help you gather your thoughts and focus your ideas on what you’re doing.  

Take A Break.  

Leave your desk, take a walk around the office, or if you’re remote, around the neighborhood. Taking a 20- 30 minute break can do wonders for your thought process. Relax your mind and allow there to be peace between you and yourself. For those 30 minutes, you're not going to think about anything besides your tranquility. Sometimes we overthink, and overcrowd our mind with distractions, anxiety and negativity without realizing how detrimental it is to our creative process and our own positivity. Taking a break will help you to better address your situation.   

I worked with a guy who would always bounce a rubber bouncy ball against a wall when he was figuring something out. We always knew if he wasn’t at his desk, he was probably off thinking.    

Change Your Scenery.  

Sometimes the solutions to our problems start with changing our surroundings and what we constantly see. Being in a new environment can help you be more imaginative and leave you feeling recharged and refreshed. Your mood will increase and your creativity will flow. A routine is great to keep your work process structured but it can be beneficial to your creativity and innovation to change up your surroundings especially when you need some motivation. Spontaneity helps creativity.  

Do Something Else.  

If your mind won’t let you be creative, imaginative or artistic, express your creativity through a different avenue- Painting, cooking, journaling for self-reflection, drawing, dancing etc. Whatever it is, even a hobby that takes your mind off of being stagnant within your creativity, do it! Sometimes our creative mindsets need to recharge. So doing an enjoyable activity can help bring you to the imaginative ideas you were needing and wanting. Help your creativity flourish by allowing yourself time away from what’s not inspiring you at the moment.  

Who Inspires You?  

Socialize with those who inspire your creativity. Ask questions, be asked questions. Surround yourself with the person or people you need that help to inspire and motivate your creativity. Your partner, your family, your co-worker, an artist, a developer, a musician, a museum, an art gallery- Whatever it is or whoever it is that inspires you, use that to help feed your imagination. 

Being surrounded by creation and creativity helps our own imagination flow. Creativity breeds innovation.  

Just Do It.  

If all else fails and you still aren’t feeling creative, just start it. It sounds simpler than it is but it is possible. You literally have to decide to start. I know from experience that sometimes I have no motivation and am just uninspired but knowing I have to complete something, and just jumping straight into the project has helped me be the most successful. Sometimes not having a plan or an idea from the start of inception, can help to make the most imaginative things come to life.