Hi  ,

I hope you had a great week last week and an even more relaxing weekend?

For me, my weekend was great, but my barber don do me strong thing. 😩😩
I’m wearing a cap till further notice abeg. Must never be caught unfresh! 

Please reply to this email and gist me about how your weekend went. 

So, today, I want to talk about something that I’m sure you can relate to.

Have you ever experienced a creative block?

 You wake up one morning and you’re ready to work. Maybe even a deadline to meet. 

Now, you’re seated at your desk, ready to work, and boom! There’s no inspiration.

2 hours later, you’re still looking at a blank canvas.

Orrr

You just can’t seem to focus on anything. You don’t know how to start that article or create that design, or record that social media video.

Sounds familiar, right?

It’s easy to think that your village people have caught up with you las las 😂. 

, It’s not your village people kan kan.

It’s actually quite normal for creatives to experience a creative block.

A creative block is a situation where you are seemingly incapable of being creative. You just can’t create those amazing ideas on the fly when you want to.

Scientifically, it's called the block canvas syndrome, and it can span days, weeks, months, or years. 

Just last week, I faced it, and I couldn’t write anything. It’s also why you didn’t get a mail from me last week Thursday. 

So, how do you solve it?

While there are many ways to solve it, I will briefly highlight one way that I have found works really effectively for me. 

The first step is to take a break. As counterintuitive as it sounds, stepping away from your desk for a moment can help your brain rest and refresh, so you can come up with better ideas. 

Forcing yourself to work through a creative block is not a great idea. So, I advise that you take a break and give yourself time to think. 

Go for a walk, play some mindless video games, or just sleep.

Ideally, you want to do something that does not require so much brain power, so that your brain can work on it in the background. 

This is one of the reasons why people have some amazing insights in the bathroom. It’s because they are doing something that is distracting, but not mind-tasking, so the mind can adjust.

For me, I either take a nap, go do some exercise, play COD or talk to the LOML (Single pringles sorry o 😂😂).

Either way, after taking breaks, I am usually refreshed and energized to get back and I now have great ideas. 

In my next mail, I’ll share a more detailed framework for easily avoiding and conquering creative blocks.

Stay good, 
Favour.

P.S We had our first Twitter Space on Friday, and it was amazing. Over 500 people tuned in, and we spoke extensively about the Upwork platform and how you can grow on it, even as a new freelancer. 

We also had some new people join the community from that, which is amazing.
Your LOML might actually be among those that just joined, so you better go say hi to the new community members.

P.P.S We are also hosting another webinar this Friday, the 1st of July on how to get your dream remote job. So, ensure that you keep your eyes peeled for more announcements. 

If you have any questions, you can reach us by email at favour@thefavourphronesis or send us a DM via WhatsApp