| Have you ever developed a good working | | | | way your mind is responding to these stimuli. |
| momentum? You are full of inspiration and clear | | | | Something is preventing the flow of ideas and the |
| thinking. Your ideas gel and flow easily into your | | | | creative connection of the ideas to produce, |
| writing? You are in tune with your personal vision. | | | | organized and communicate insights. But what |
| I think we all have those periods. When you are in | | | | creates the barrier and where does it come |
| the zone, everything just comes together and it's | | | | from? |
| easy to think that it will continue forever. But, of | | | | I believe that writer's block happens when |
| course, it doesn't. | | | | something has undermined the vision of the |
| Something happens to break the focus. Maybe it's | | | | individual. A fully functioning, productive individual |
| a good thing like a family vacation. Maybe it's a | | | | has a clear vision of their purpose, a confidence in |
| business trip. Maybe you get sick or are | | | | their capabilities and a program to follow. This is a |
| distracted by a family problem. Whatever it may | | | | complicated process and easy to disrupt. Only the |
| be it's inevitable. Suddenly the ideas stop flowing. | | | | most focused and organized individuals care able |
| Thoughts that seemed so clear when you sat | | | | to operate for long periods in this mode. Most of |
| down to write become fuzzy and unconnected. | | | | us slip in and out of focus and alignment. But |
| Your usual sources of inspiration don't generate | | | | when we do pull it off, we find that everything is |
| ideas and you find yourself staring at a blank | | | | working for us. These are the times when we |
| page, stuck for someplace to start. | | | | write effortlessly and effectively. Out of focus, |
| When this happens, it's easy to throw up your | | | | one of the symptoms is writers block. |
| hands in frustration while denying any responsibility | | | | Effective and productive individuals have a strong |
| for being blocked. We all do it. Writers block is | | | | mission, a high level of confidence and unrelenting |
| accepted - like the common cold- as something | | | | commitment. Normal people don't have those |
| beyond our control. It's an honorable excuse that | | | | things. They want to fit in and be in tune with |
| places no blame on the person but that reasoning | | | | society. They want to be told what to believe and |
| just won't stand up to scrutiny. How can anyone | | | | how to act. This is what we hear on the radio, |
| believe that a creative, productive person can | | | | watch on TV and read in the papers. It is what |
| suddenly stop functioning for no reason? The | | | | we pick up at work or from our neighbors If we |
| ability is still there. The sources of inspiration have | | | | let those messages influence our thinking we lose |
| not stopped. What has stopped is the creative | | | | focus and our vision. Without that vision we can't |
| packaging of experience and observation and that | | | | focus our thoughts. Our thinking suffers and our |
| is a process residing in you. | | | | mind goes blank. We have nothing to say because |
| We like to think that as rational beings, we control | | | | e are waiting for direction from outside. |
| our thought processes and we do. It's just that | | | | So what can you do to break out of a writers |
| some of those processes are conscious and | | | | block? My experience suggests that connecting |
| others are unconscious. When someone | | | | with people who share your vision and direction |
| experiences writers block, it's because some part | | | | can help you restore your own vision. If you can't |
| of the brain has put limits on that process. The | | | | get together in person then certainly you can |
| writer that sits down to compose an essay is | | | | absorb their thoughts by checking their blogs or |
| using his conscious mind to manage the creative | | | | reading their books. Use those people as |
| processes. If he is blocked it's because the | | | | resources to support your vision, reinforce your |
| unconscious mind is interfering to prevent it from | | | | direction and build your confidence in the belief |
| happening. So what can a blocked writer do? | | | | that you are the person you want to be and that |
| If writer's block is self-generated, that suggests | | | | you do have something important to say. Using |
| that the solution is within the control of the writer. | | | | these people as support while you rebuild your |
| That is not how it seems when you sit down and | | | | own confidence is the best way I have found to |
| can't write. Logic, however, insists that you have | | | | get my creative juices flowing again. |
| to be the cause of the block. Nothing else has | | | | If writers block is a reflection of a disconnect with |
| changed. The physical environment is the same. | | | | the principles that frame your like. It's the |
| The stimuli are the same, but somehow they fail | | | | breaking of focus on your mission and your belief |
| to get the mind working to generate the ideas | | | | in your ability to deliver. |
| and produce the output. What is different is the | | | | |