As someone who loves making things, I’ve come across my fair share of roadblocks and obstacles. It sucks, and if I’m not careful, I end up getting stuck in these pitfalls for much longer than necessary. Below, I outline five common roadblocks that I often run into. I hope by sharing these with you, you can sidestep these pitfalls and keep creating great work.

The 5 Roadblocks To Creativity:

1. Trying to be clever - I get it, you’re a genius and you want the world to know it. However, the problem with being clever is it can often lead to work that feels gimmicky. You hit one note and that’s all there is. Your work then lacks soul. It lacks you. When you try to be clever you only have so much runway until you eventually have to come back to yourself.

2. Segmenting yourself - Putting all your emphasis on one branch, rather than focusing on the entire tree. To segment is to neglect yourself, to not feed yourself, to starve the entire entity of you, in the hopes that people will like you better if you simplify yourself to appeal to the common denominator. Allowing your true self to be seen is scary but that is where creativity lies. Creativity does not live in the cleansed versions of your work. It lies in that deep dark vat of failure, honesty, and vulnerability that you have to allow yourself to dive into. Go all in.

3. Holding back due to perfection - Instead, you should be overshooting your target. It’s easier to dial back than to come up with more work, but then all you end up doing is holding yourself back. I would like to share a quote by Anne Lamott which I feel encapsulates this idea perfectly, “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.”

4. Hiding - I know, hiding is easy. Hiding is safe. But it’s important to let your art out into the world. Your art needs to be seen and it needs to live a life of its own. Only then can you truly release and move on to more important work in your life. Part of creativity is allowing yourself to be seen, to be naked, to be embarrassed. Only when you find that you have nothing to lose do you have a chance at creating truly great work. So stop hiding, we’re all waiting for you.

5. Not having faith - It’s important to believe in yourself. I’ve written about it so many times I probably sound like a broken record, but the reality is if you don’t believe in yourself, nobody will. No one is going to help you put paint on the canvas. No one is going to put words on the page. No one is going to pick up the camera for you. You need to believe in yourself and if you don't, then you must find a way to do so.

That’s all folks. I hope this was beneficial to you. Remember, you are not alone. We’re all on this road to creativity together, so let’s help each other out.

by Jason Lam