How can you overcome creative blocks when developing new strategies?

Often i have found that their is not one cause that is a barrier to creative thinking. And also many things connect to make up or take the next step(s). To find out these "things that are needed to connect." Take a piece of paper and write out all the "why's", and identify causal reasons, what ever they may be. Then group similar words and look at it again. Clean up the mind map or words that connect to each other. Find where the resistances you have are in the sub-concious from the mind map. In other words take a paper and put things down or sketch it out. Hang this paper on the wall next to you. What step to take to identify the root cause(s) will require you to get deeper. I found that their are more than one way to skin the cat.

It can be as simple as taking a nap first because your brain is tired or taking a walk or having some snack. Sometimes going shopping for some retail therapy or getting a full body massage can also help.

Get away from the computer. Take a walk, get some fresh air, grab a coffee. By stubbornly trying to fight through the block, you’ll get nowhere. Instead try to forget about it and come back to it later.

One way to identify the root cause of creative block is to start by introspective reflection. Analyze your current state and consider factors such as stress, fatigue, fear of failure, lack of motivation, or external distractions. Take the time to probe deeper into the reasons behind your block. Reflect on past strategies that were successful. Identify what made prior strategies successful, and whether similar approaches can be applied to the current situation.

Actually I disagree, creative blocks are a result of new circumstances that require new ways of thinking and experimentation to move forward. I find it helpful to continue creating in free form by simulating an experience or visual expression of the intended result through your imaginations and visualization techniques with more deliberate intention.

I love to get into a Reddit rabbit hole. It can be as valuable as a focus group. Type in anything and you will get plenty of perspective - positive, negative and everything in between. If you are a brand and you really want to know what people think, get on Reddit. No one is holding back on that platform.

Embrace diversity! Seek employees from different backgrounds and organizational levels to use their skills and experience to solve problems. Sometimes innovation will come from frontline employees who have an intimate knowledge of the work process and who are often best able to create solutions.

Brainstorming is a good tool to gather diverse opinions and ideas and follow by converging some ideas into more viable solutions.

Seeking information and doing research on what competitors or people in that similar niche are doing can help us generate ideas and get that creative flow going

I believe you must allow yourself to garner inspiration from many different media types. However, do not consume the media purely to become inspired but consume it out of your self-interest. Forcing inspiration never truly works and once you open your perspective and pool of interests, you gain a better understanding of the world and yourself.

Creative block often arises from feeling overwhelmed by numerous variables. Lisa Ducharme suggested mind mapping as a solution, which I term 'the carrot' because it allows the strategist to speak freely about their topic while a moderator carefully listens and captures the nested concepts. Alternatively, 'the stick' method involves a five-w's study, requiring the strategist to concisely answer who, what, when, where, why, and how, potentially leading to frustration. When dealing with large complex systems, I have found a helpful framework that organizes the strategist's thinking around four topics: what's happening in the particular environment, why it's happening, when or where it might change, and how their organization can respond.

All of these creative techniques can work, and I use them all. However, if I need to overcome a creative block, I would start with mind mapping. 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜: Define your main subject in three words or less. Central image of your diagram. 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐬: Brainstorm everything related to your main idea. These subtopics will branch out from the center. 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: Group your subtopics based on their relationships and categories. This will help you understand how different elements connect and interact with each other. 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Here i have used and taught many techniques over the past 30 years in toy design and product design at Purdue University. The toy design is the most popular technical elective at Purdue. I have learnt a lot from creative ideation techniques. They have to be internalized to work, i.e. become a natural part of your thinking. So take some simple techniques and actively practice it. Then they become your sixth sense. One of them is called scamper - substitute, combine, adapt, magnify and such. You can use chatGPT to practice it, GPT not only can teach you about the technique but also practice it with the AI. You and the AI will do much better than each other alone. Guide it and learn more. I will post a separate article with examples of how to.

A block is a signal that your brain's momentum has stalled. Like a frozen computer, your nervous system needs a reboot. Take a break, walk around the block, meditate, listen to music you love, jump rope, whatever you like, for 15 minutes. When you come back to your project, you'll see it in a different light.

It's so important to get a different perspective, so go and do something that is not necessarily linked to what you do and find how what others do can inspire your own approach. This is really helpful as I try to connect stories and strategies in a way that I wouldn't have seen sitting in front of the computer. Going to events like live music, an escape room or even traveling and sitting amongst nature could be BIG inspirations. Not only that but never be guilty to take a nap! Recharging your energy is key. Actually, I find that setting an alarm between 17-21 minutes is perfect. Too less and you're grumpy it's not enough, too much and you're grumpy because you're tired after sleeping too deep.

Our sub-consciousness mind often could help trigger new ideas we never think off. Agree to take break from the problems and it may help to uncover new ideas.

I think it's much better to take a break first, then gather various perspectives... 1- free time, totally free time recovers and creates space in thinking, performing 2- reading, discussion and reflection on blocks (if identified) or writing about new strategies.. helps a lot.

Walk away completely from what you’re doing. Watch a movie. Play video games. Read a book. Stimulate your mind in a multitude of ways so different synapses begin firing and your brain starts making different kinds of connections. Listen to music and color. Smoke a joint. Listen to records. Spoken word poetry. Fill your mind with sound so you can’t hear yourself think until your train of thoughts trails off to something completely unrelated and you’ll work your way back. Don’t work against the wall. Don’t try to break it down or push through. Walk around it. You’ll find so much inspiration along the way.

I've learned that the best strategies often emerge from a cycle of testing, learning, and evolving. Test Your Ideas: Put your strategies into action. Feel free to try out even the unconventional ones. Gather Feedback: Listen to what your audience, market, or team says. Feedback is gold! Measure & Learn: Look at the results. What worked? What didn't? Every outcome is a lesson. Evolve Your Strategy: Modify, combine, or discard ideas based on your learning. Discover New Opportunities: Often, this process leads to unexpected, innovative solutions. Remember, every successful strategy is a product of numerous iterations. Your next breakthrough idea could be just one experiment away! 💡

Let me discuss my experience in strategic facilitation and creating competitive advantage in crowded verticals. Strategic blocks occur when markets and industries become highly saturated with competition and product differences become minute. Often, when this occurs, competition begins to revolve around price, rather than product. It is critical in these moments to dive back into the mission and vision of the organization - what founding crux drove product innovation in the first place? You must rediscover your competitive advantage through critical reflection on your "why."

When I came upon a creative block in strategy I went back to the basics I learned from my mentors. I'd ask myself the question, "where do I want take this project, client, relationship, idea, whatever"? The year after 911 our business was failing. The only work was shooting CEO video messages informing staff of being released. After one of those shoots I took a ride through downtown. As I drove, I asked myself how every business I passed could use video, marketing or interactive services. It worked. We executed a new strategy and marketing plan, and were back on the right path. You can apply many techniques to break through a block. For me, it was letting go of what was, and opening my mind to new possibilities.

The "why" technique is my most go-to technique and it makes me curious because i like to know why. Curiosity is huge weapon and makes you successful and feel happy about things. Just ask "why" to everything in your mind - or - even others in a nice way and not directly as why - but couch it in your own nice way to know. Soon you will be leapfrogging in all walks of life. You will learn more quickly. And now you have a new GPT friend also - and - depending on how you ask it, you will learn more. You will not feel stupid since GPT is a machine. I will soon post an article on how to use GPT live in a conversation to get you over not understanding technical words (jargon or taxonomy) preventing you from grasping the next concept.

Go back to tried and tested techniques Every creative person has their own process of getting into the zone. Different things work for different people. Sometimes it's a place, sometimes it's a person. Sometimes it's just a mental routine. Whatever works for you, go back to that and it will most likely reactivate your muscle memories.

Take a look at similar strategies that have worked well, observe the components and the links that guided them through. Form an idea of what could work best for your own strategy and compare it to the other ideas. Come up with few scenarios and see which one works better.

Always be yourself, trust your instincts and try not to be impressive. I always do my best and come up with best strategies when I’m at my best self mode.

useful idea.. but you may face challenges.. It is better to create the appropriate strategy and then benefit from similar successful strategic practices.

I have learnt to respect creative blocks and give them space. What I usually do is spend an hour to two prunning my permaculture garden or wake up early in the day to take a 3 hour nature walk. This usually gives me a different perspective and time to try and understand why the block happened in the first place. Turn around time usually takes 24- 48 hours then I am back to doing what I love most. Delivering on results.