Breaking through creative blocks can be the thing that sets you free as a creative. This is a members-only Mindset Insight newsletter.
Last week at our monthly group coaching masterclass, we gathered for a powerful session on one of the most universal challenges for every creative: how to break through creative blocks.
Whether you’re a writer, artist, designer, or simply someone trying to bring more creativity into your everyday life, these moments of stuckness are part of the process – not signs of failure.
During the event, I explored the neuroscience behind blocks and the four most common traps that keep us stuck and provided some great and practical strategies to get moving again along with an emergency block-breaking toolkit.
For this month’s Mindset Insight I wanted to share some of this knowledge, give you some strategies on how to break through these blocks and provide you with the emergency block-breaking kit that you can use for immediate assistance and long term prevention.
Let’s begin by thinking about what creative blocks are. Writers often talk about writer’s block as though it’s a bad thing, but what if we could rethink what a block is. Could a block actually be something that is useful and is calling for our attention?
Reframing creative blocks
Creative blocks aren’t the absence of creativity – they’re signals from your creative system that something needs attention.
Creative blocks are:
- Natural parts of the creative process
- Opportunities for growth and breakthrough
- Your brain’s way of processing and reorganising
- Universal experiences shared by all creatives
The neuroscience of stuckness
When we’re “in flow,” three brain networks work beautifully together:
- Default Mode Network (DMN): the daydreaming, idea-making space where aha-moments spark.
- Executive Attention Network: helps refine, evaluate, and focus ideas.
- Salience Network: acts as a switchboard, deciding where attention should go.
During a block, that balance gets disrupted:
- The prefrontal cortex (inner critic) goes into overdrive.
- Stress hormones like cortisol dampen creativity.
- The amygdala (fear centre) triggers fight-or-flight responses.
- Communication between hemispheres slows down, making it harder to connect ideas.
This leads to the block cycle: pressure → stress → self-doubt → avoidance → guilt → more pressure. Recognising this cycle is the first step to breaking it.
The four big block types (and how to break them)
1. The perfectionist trap
Fear of creating “bad” work or never finishing.
Strategies
The ”playful first draft” permission
- Set a timer for 10 minutes
- Create deliberately imperfect work
- Quantity over quality initially
The 70% rule
- Share work when it’s 70% complete
- Get feedback before “perfecting”
- Iteration beats perfection
Progress anchoring
- Celebrate small wins daily
- Track completion, not quality
- Document your creative journey
2. The comparison trap
Measuring yourself against others, losing your voice.
Strategies
Influence auditing
- List your top 10 creative influences
- Identify what specifically inspires you
- Create deliberate influence breaks
Your creative DNA
- Map your unique combination of skills, interests, and perspectives
- Identify what only YOU can create
- Develop your signature elements
Collaboration over competition
- Seek creative partnerships
- Join supportive creative communities
- Practice generous appreciation of others
3. The overwhelm spiral
Too many ideas, paralysis, or scattered focus.
Strategies
The idea parking lot
- Dedicated space for capturing all ideas
- Weekly idea review sessions
- Choose ONE idea per project cycle
The focus funnel
- List all current projects
- Rank by urgency and excitement
- Work on maximum three at once
Constraint creation
- Set deliberate limitations
- Use prompts and challenges
- Time-bound creative sessions
Energy management
- Identify your peak creative hours
- Match task difficulty to energy levels
- Build in genuine rest periods
4. The motivation desert
Losing your “why,” feeling flat or disconnected.
Strategies
Purpose reconnection
- Write your creative mission statement
- Remember your “creative origin story”
- Connect work to larger meaning
The play injection
- Schedule regular creative play time
- Try new mediums or techniques
- Lower stakes, higher experimentation
Community and connection
- Share work in progress
- Find creative accountability partners
- Engage with your audience’s responses
Micro-momentum building
- Start with 5-minute creative sessions
- Focus on process, not outcomes
- Celebrate showing up, not results
An emergency block-breaking kit
For immediate relief
When you feel blocked, you can:
- Take a 5-minute movement break
- Change your environment
- Switch mediums (write instead of sketch, or vice versa)
- Talk through your project with someone you trust
For ongoing prevention
- Regular creative challenges
- Morning Pages
- Weekly creative “dates” with yourself
- Collecting inspiration
A reflective prompt
What’s one small step you’ll take this week to support your creativity?
Which strategy are you drawn to?
Maybe it’s 10 minutes of playful sketching, reviewing your idea list, or reconnecting with your creative origin story.
Let me know in the comments or pop it into our WhatsApp Let’s Chat group (which I’d love you to join if you’re not already).
🌟 Group coaching masterclasses
My live group coaching masterclasses are interactive and we all come away from them having gained so much insight. These live events with lifetime access to recordings are a perk for my current coaching clients (Momentum, Focus and Elevate members and Creative Empowerment 12-week Coaching Program members).
I have opened them up for others to join in as I know that the lessons are so useful for others as well. If this is you, and you would like to be able to do a deeper dive into these topics, please join us! I’d love to have you there.
Building a Supportive Creative Community
📅 Monday, 6 October
🕧 12:30–1:30 pm AEDT
💲 $20 AUD | Free for current coaching members (Momentum, Focus, Elevate and Creative Empowerment Program)
Next month’s masterclass is all about how to create and nurture the kind of community that fuels your creativity. We’ll explore how to find the right people, build supportive connections, and sustain momentum together – because creativity is never meant to be a solo journey. I’d love you to join us as the session is interactive and a great learning space for us all.
👉 If you’re not a current coaching client (who get this as a perk), you can join by reserving your virtual seat for $20 AUD, or grab a bundle of the next three masterclasses for the price of two.
Here’s what’s coming up for the rest of the year:
- November – Your Creative Identity
Explore how to define and sustain your creative self with confidence, integrity, and alignment. - December – Creative Cross-Training
Expand your practice through playful experimentation that refreshes and strengthens your creativity.
Grab the bundle of 3 for the price of 2
Remember: a creative block isn’t the end of your creativity. It’s creativity asking for what it needs to flow again.
Yours in creativity
x M