Empty page

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the page remains empty before you. Either empty, or, more likely, filled with innumerable starts and scratchings out. When faced with such an empty page, or any other failure to progress, you probably have a few things you do, habitually, any of which may vary in their usefulness, but which you return to repeatedly whenever you are confronted by these challenges. 

 

I too have a range of strategies that I default to in difficult times. (No prizes for guessing that opining philosophically in a blog post is one of them). These vary in their utility, so I won’t pretend that I have the authoritative list of ways to refocus, recommit and restart. But I can offer this advice, which I have found to be effective, both for myself and for others who I have witnessed in the same struggle: 

 

Do something different. 

 

Or even, do something differently. Identify in yourself the response you default to, and switch it up. Introduce some element of novelty to your situation, whether by taking a different action, seeking a different creative stimulus, or even just by physically moving in an unfamiliar way. It fires up the unhabituated parts of your brain, and allows you – even briefly – to think in new ways, using your whole brain. This is where the inspiration occurs. 

 

You will likely return to your default patterns soon enough, but your return to your usual productive habits will be fuelled by the momentary insights that your thought-sojourn gave you. With a more integrated way of thinking, the page will fill quickly, and well.