How To Approach Mental Blocks
I couldn’t get myself to do the bare minimum, even writing in my journal was an effort.
There is nothing like the euphoria of achieving. You feel capable. In control.
But what if you’re no longer in control? What if you get exhausted and instead of finishing tasks you end up piling them? And it’s usually right when you need a little motivation, it is nowhere to be found.
It’s not your fault though. Today, we have so many options of what we can do, it makes our goals a lot more competitive. Our brain sometimes just can’t keep up and needs to snooze…
A few months ago, I faced what I now know is a “writer’s block”. It’s not only for writers, though. It stems from how a writer feels when they simply cannot put words into paper.
I couldn’t get myself to do the bare minimum, even writing in my journal was an effort. I absolutely hated this feeling. It felt like I was being held captive, but it’s my own brain that’s trapping me.
I know many others who have struggled with the same issue, and you may have struggled with it too. So I’m going to start by making you visualize something:
Imagine accidentally getting your car stuck in mud. Horrifying, right? You can push the pedal as hard as you want, but it’s going nowhere. In fact, the harder you try, the more stuck your car will get.
Now, how is that related to writer’s block? And, what do I do now?
Your brain is the car, your mental ability is the engine, and the pedal is you. The mud, however, is the sneaky little block.
First of all, stop pushing the pedal! Take a deep breath. Acknowledge that the car still works, the engine’s in good shape, but there is a situation you need to address. That’s the way you should think about any mental blocks you face.
A situation where you need to pause for a few seconds, and…think.
How can you get out of this situation without ruining your day and your engine? Of course, that would require a much different approach with a car, but we’re back to writers’ blocks.
So today, I’d like to share with you my top tips. When you put them into practice, you’ll notice the difference in your work abilities.
1. Recognize
Usually, the first step in solving any issue is recognizing there is a problem in the first place. Have you been overworking yourself these past few weeks or even months? Have you been putting work first, yourself second?
Did you miss hanging out with your partner just to finish that one task at 9 PM? Reflect on what is it that may have caused the block in the beginning. That brings us to…
2. Dropping the masterpiece mentality
There is nothing more liberating in the world than at the end of a working day you can say: “Kudos to me! I did enough today”, pat yourself on the shoulder, and then do something fun.
Even if you’re fully convinced you can keep going and that maybe you’re going to win the lottery in the extra two hours you’re going to work. Chances are you may just be a perfectionist. You are too hard on yourself, and it will show once you cannot work at all for weeks and possibly burn out.
Remember you’re not a robot, you’re not created to be productive all of the time, it’s impossible. In the meantime, you can...
3. Write down your lightbulbs
You know when you’re sitting down, relaxing, then all of a sudden you get an idea of something you want to do? Write it down.
Don’t start working on it, just yet. In bullet points, you can write your idea, the benefit of it, and what inspired you to think about it. Then move on with your day. When you actually have the time to make a plan of achieving it, you can find these points already set out for you. So that’s going to…
A. Give you time to continue relaxing.
B. Train your brain to separate work time from free time. And…
C. Once you get to work time, You can remember what you wanted to do. It’s going to save your time and make you able to think back to why you wanted to do it.
So, that leads us to…
4. Finding your why
Why is it that you want to do it? Jot your why on the same piece of paper you used for your bullet points. It will pick you back up when you’re about to give up when things aren’t going as expected.
When you have a vision of your “why”, it will be harder for you to give up or even lose interest. You’ll get that gas back into your engine again, and if it doesn’t remember to…
5. Give yourself a break
When you’re not actively thinking, you’re giving your brain a break to take in information and get inspired.
Go outside. Get inspiration. Watch a movie you’ve been wanting to watch. Sometimes a break is all the gas you need. And trust me, sometimes investing in your brain’s capital is to simply let it rest.
In the end, you need to put these points into practice to transform them into a habit. It may take some time, but you’ll be glad once you notice the difference in how you automatically treat writers’ blocks.
