As I sit here today, looking at my to-do list filled with design projects that require more creative thinking than usual, I am freaking out. Although my whole life has been surrounded by and basically built around creativity, it NEVER gets easier for me. It takes work, and lots of it. I know I am not alone, since there are about 5,000 websites with tips on the proverbial creative rut. There are some people that are blessed with a never-ending flow of creative ideas (I think they work at a place called Matchstic), and I sort of want to kill those people.

I was in a position much like today’s while on the first Cayamo cruise. Searching for inspiration in the music and fresh air, I ventured outside to the Lido Deck. I met two ladies who may as well been angels. We dove in to surprisingly intense conversation, about life, music, and then – creativity. They suggested a must-read on the topic, and I was SO very excited to get back on dry land and dive into the thing. So excited, in fact, that I promptly forgot the title and author of the book, and have been fruitlessly searching for it ever since. I am doing some serious hoping that this blog may pass in front of the right eyes, and could point me in the right direction of this book.

Until then, I will share with you a few things I do when stuck in a creative rut:

• I clean. I feel like if the clutter is out of my space, it will be out of my head. Sometimes this just makes me a more creative cleaner and I think about ways to decorate instead of how to market cruises.
• I go outside. Breathing in fresh air somehow takes pressure off in an instant. Plus, it reminds me that once I am done with the task(s) at hand, there is a reward waiting.
• Speaking of rewards – I often try a reward system. Its actually pretty brutal. For example: A shower is a reward. I wake up, and will not let myself shower until I get XYZ done. PS – My boyfriend once asked if I loved showers more than I loved him. I had to think about it.
• I make lists. Seems very left brain, but once things are on lists, they are out of my brain, freeing it up to be creative. Hopefully.
• I browse through finished work, whether it be my own, or someone else’s. It makes me realize that it CAN actually be done.
• I consult this list: http://www.kerismith.com/funstuff/100ideas.htm and consider doing all of them, and usually pick #70.

Whew! Writing helps, too. Back to work!

-Ashley