February 18, 2025 • 7 mins
Discover techniques to overcome creative blocks and cultivate a flow state in your artistic journey. The episode emphasizes actionable strategies for enhancing creativity and the importance of celebrating small wins to maintain momentum.
• Addressing creative blocks and their sources
• Recognizing emotional and motivational barriers
• Strategies for overcoming blocks with small tasks
• Three key techniques for finding flow: sprints, minimizing distractions, and using music
• The no-editing rule for first drafts and trusting the process
• Emphasizing the joy and purpose in creative work
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Richmond (00:05):
Hi, you're listening to Pockets, a podcast about
finding joy, meaning and purposein life's simplest moments.
I'm Richmond Camero.
Let's dive into today's journey.
(00:25):
There's this quote that I'veread before and it goes like you
can't wait for inspiration, youhave to go after it with a club
.
It's a funny image if youpicture it in your head, and it
shows how much effort we need asartists to have that
inspiration.
It's always fleeting that wehave to have this strength and
(00:48):
bravery to run after it right.
Today I'm going to talk aboutfinding flow in the creative
work and how that can becaptured in a pocket.
I'm a writer, but the principlesthat I'll talk about also
applies to other creativedisciplines.
Of course, you can't discussthe flow state without touching
the artist's block, and I'lltouch on it for just a bit.
(01:12):
The creative block may come indifferent forms.
It might be a lack ofmotivation or energy, the tired
and lazy feeling when I'mstaring at the blank page.
It can come in the form of fearthat what I'm putting out is
not worth it and I am not goodenough.
Sometimes it's feeling stuckand not knowing what to do next.
I have not mastered conqueringthe writer's block, but I do
(01:35):
have several tools on how todeal with it.
I think we would need toaddress the creative block first
before we can get into the flowstate.
If we fight the block withoutunderstanding where it stems
from, it will be difficult toget into a creative flow.
So it starts with understanding,stepping away from the body of
(01:55):
work we're creating and thinkingabout what blocks us from
continuing.
Is there something that wedon't know?
Is there some technique that weneed to learn For writing
stories, I often stumble whenit's not clear for me what would
happen next, or if there'ssomething about the world that
I'm not sure about.
Like what would the town that Icreate look like?
(02:15):
So usually in these cases Istep away, I do some sketches
and just think about the problemthat I'm encountering.
So yeah, it's stepping awayfrom the actual work.
Stepping away from the actualwriting, and asking several
questions will help meunderstand what I'm missing.
The other cause of creativeblock is the motivation or the
(02:41):
mood.
It's a common feeling.
We sit in front of our desk, westare at the screen, then we
get distracted with other shinythings.
Deep inside we want to createsomething, but at that point we
want to do anything else thatdoesn't involve our art.
There are two ways that Iaddress this.
(03:01):
The first one is I ask myselfwhat's the minimum amount that
I'm capable of doing.
It might be just writing asingle sentence, or even just a
few words.
It might be spending fiveminutes, or it might be planning
on what I can do next when I'min a better mindset, but it's
(03:23):
something I have to do something, no matter how small it is.
It's a tiny progress that Iwould consider as a win.
Second option that I do is toactually step away from it and
not do anything.
There will be days like this,really, and I really have to
listen to my body and my mind ifit requires rest, but I try not
(03:43):
to overdo this and treat thisas a last resort.
So now that I have an idea ofwhat my block is and have
potentially addressed that, Ican now go to building my flow.
I have three techniques toenable me to work in a flow
state.
First is sprints.
I like to work in sprints.
(04:04):
Even if I intended to write fora one-hour session, for example
, I like to break them intosmaller chunks.
Pomodoro is a famous techniquefor this.
It's a 25-minute focused workthen 5-minute break.
For me, what works is shortersprints.
I like a 15-minute sprintfollowed by a 2-minute break.
(04:26):
Why it works for me is becausetackling a 1-hour work is
daunting.
1 hour feels like a bigcommitment, whereas 15 minutes
is less than your typical comedyTV show right?
It's doable and it offers lessresistance than committing to a
1-hour work.
My second tool for flow is nodistractions and disturbance.
(04:49):
When I commit to a sprint, Itry my best not to be distracted
, whether physical or digitaldistractions.
It's the same principle formultitasking, really, that when
I allow my attention to bedivided into other things,
getting back on track will bemuch more difficult.
Digital distractions are muchmore harder to avoid.
(05:10):
To help me set boundaries, Iuse apps like Freedom to block
access to social media acrossdifferent devices.
The third one I use to achieveflow is music.
This also helps in minimizingthe physical distractions around
me, because my focus tends tobreak when I hear something out
of the blue.
I have a playlist for writing.
(05:32):
It consists of instrumentalsongs, mostly with an adventure
or RPG kind of vibe.
I find the soundtracks forgames or movies are helpful to
me, but there was a time beforewhen I can write to music with
lyrics, but I can't do that now,so I mostly stick with the
instrumental ones.
These are my three main toolsfor achieving flow.
(05:52):
There's a bonus fourthtechnique, actually, but this
might be most applicable towriting, and it's no editing.
Writing the first draft of astory or an An article means
putting my thoughts out, so thefirst draft is not for well.
, My my goal is to put mythoughts on the screen.
The first draft is for myself,not for my audience objects.
(06:14):
When I stop to edit and thinkthe flow of writing is disrupted
, it takes a bit of practice tosilence the inner critic, and it
also means trusting my systemtoo, that I can improve and edit
in the succeeding revisions.
As a writer and as a creative, Iwant to leave my body of work
as a legacy.
(06:34):
I also want to enjoy theprocess and continually create.
Flow helps me do it.
Yes, there's disciplineinvolved and consistency too,
but discipline means showing upfor yourself.
May you find flow in whateveryou do and may it help you build
the work you want to do.
(06:58):
You've been with Pockets.
Thank you so much for sharingthis space with me.
Now go, embrace the moments,build your pockets of meaning
and keep curiosity as your guide.
Hi, you're listening to Pockets, a podcast about
finding joy, meaning and purposein life's simplest moments.
I'm Richmond Camero.
Let's dive into today's journey.
(00:25):
There's this quote that I'veread before and it goes like you
can't wait for inspiration, youhave to go after it with a club
.
It's a funny image if youpicture it in your head, and it
shows how much effort we need asartists to have that
inspiration.
It's always fleeting that wehave to have this strength and
(00:48):
bravery to run after it right.
Today I'm going to talk aboutfinding flow in the creative
work and how that can becaptured in a pocket.
I'm a writer, but the principlesthat I'll talk about also
applies to other creativedisciplines.
Of course, you can't discussthe flow state without touching
the artist's block, and I'lltouch on it for just a bit.
(01:12):
The creative block may come indifferent forms.
It might be a lack ofmotivation or energy, the tired
and lazy feeling when I'mstaring at the blank page.
It can come in the form of fearthat what I'm putting out is
not worth it and I am not goodenough.
Sometimes it's feeling stuckand not knowing what to do next.
I have not mastered conqueringthe writer's block, but I do
(01:35):
have several tools on how todeal with it.
I think we would need toaddress the creative block first
before we can get into the flowstate.
If we fight the block withoutunderstanding where it stems
from, it will be difficult toget into a creative flow.
So it starts with understanding,stepping away from the body of
(01:55):
work we're creating and thinkingabout what blocks us from
continuing.
Is there something that wedon't know?
Is there some technique that weneed to learn For writing
stories, I often stumble whenit's not clear for me what would
happen next, or if there'ssomething about the world that
I'm not sure about.
Like what would the town that Icreate look like?
(02:15):
So usually in these cases Istep away, I do some sketches
and just think about the problemthat I'm encountering.
So yeah, it's stepping awayfrom the actual work.
Stepping away from the actualwriting, and asking several
questions will help meunderstand what I'm missing.
The other cause of creativeblock is the motivation or the
(02:41):
mood.
It's a common feeling.
We sit in front of our desk, westare at the screen, then we
get distracted with other shinythings.
Deep inside we want to createsomething, but at that point we
want to do anything else thatdoesn't involve our art.
There are two ways that Iaddress this.
(03:01):
The first one is I ask myselfwhat's the minimum amount that
I'm capable of doing.
It might be just writing asingle sentence, or even just a
few words.
It might be spending fiveminutes, or it might be planning
on what I can do next when I'min a better mindset, but it's
(03:23):
something I have to do something, no matter how small it is.
It's a tiny progress that Iwould consider as a win.
Second option that I do is toactually step away from it and
not do anything.
There will be days like this,really, and I really have to
listen to my body and my mind ifit requires rest, but I try not
(03:43):
to overdo this and treat thisas a last resort.
So now that I have an idea ofwhat my block is and have
potentially addressed that, Ican now go to building my flow.
I have three techniques toenable me to work in a flow
state.
First is sprints.
I like to work in sprints.
(04:04):
Even if I intended to write fora one-hour session, for example
, I like to break them intosmaller chunks.
Pomodoro is a famous techniquefor this.
It's a 25-minute focused workthen 5-minute break.
For me, what works is shortersprints.
I like a 15-minute sprintfollowed by a 2-minute break.
(04:26):
Why it works for me is becausetackling a 1-hour work is
daunting.
1 hour feels like a bigcommitment, whereas 15 minutes
is less than your typical comedyTV show right?
It's doable and it offers lessresistance than committing to a
1-hour work.
My second tool for flow is nodistractions and disturbance.
(04:49):
When I commit to a sprint, Itry my best not to be distracted
, whether physical or digitaldistractions.
It's the same principle formultitasking, really, that when
I allow my attention to bedivided into other things,
getting back on track will bemuch more difficult.
Digital distractions are muchmore harder to avoid.
(05:10):
To help me set boundaries, Iuse apps like Freedom to block
access to social media acrossdifferent devices.
The third one I use to achieveflow is music.
This also helps in minimizingthe physical distractions around
me, because my focus tends tobreak when I hear something out
of the blue.
I have a playlist for writing.
(05:32):
It consists of instrumentalsongs, mostly with an adventure
or RPG kind of vibe.
I find the soundtracks forgames or movies are helpful to
me, but there was a time beforewhen I can write to music with
lyrics, but I can't do that now,so I mostly stick with the
instrumental ones.
These are my three main toolsfor achieving flow.
(05:52):
There's a bonus fourthtechnique, actually, but this
might be most applicable towriting, and it's no editing.
Writing the first draft of astory or an An article means
putting my thoughts out, so thefirst draft is not for well.
, My my goal is to put mythoughts on the screen.
The first draft is for myself,not for my audience objects.
(06:14):
When I stop to edit and thinkthe flow of writing is disrupted
, it takes a bit of practice tosilence the inner critic, and it
also means trusting my systemtoo, that I can improve and edit
in the succeeding revisions.
As a writer and as a creative, Iwant to leave my body of work
as a legacy.
(06:34):
I also want to enjoy theprocess and continually create.
Flow helps me do it.
Yes, there's disciplineinvolved and consistency too,
but discipline means showing upfor yourself.
May you find flow in whateveryou do and may it help you build
the work you want to do.
(06:58):
You've been with Pockets.
Thank you so much for sharingthis space with me.
Now go, embrace the moments,build your pockets of meaning
and keep curiosity as your guide.
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