Creative Drano

Elena Schweitzer via Shutterstock

In a blog post on ISO50, designer Nicholas Felton makes the diagnosis for that unnerving sense that you have no ideas and never will:

Often referred to as “writer’s block”, the concept of an inspiration rut is unfortunately very familiar to every creative in any field. Sometimes ideas just don’t show up to work. Given this, we all develop strategies to combat such a scenario. Not all are foolproof, but it’s safe to say that most creative people have some battle plan for dealing with the dreaded “blank page."

He asked 25 creative types for strategies they use to encourage inspiration. Among their suggestions: rotate your "crops," listen to podcasts, take a break, take a shower, surround yourself with other people's art, psych yourself out, don't do anything. There are more than 25 ideas here, so the next time you find yourself spinning your wheels in a creative rut, take a look and see if anybody's ideas inspire you to become inspired.