We have talked about ways to overcome writing blocks before but have you ever felt so inundated with ideas that you have no real idea where to begin?

There have been times when I feel completely overwhelmed by all of the creative ideas that I have that it stops me. I feel stuck because I just don’t know where to begin or even how to begin expressing those thoughts.

As a creative entrepreneur, ideas are what I do. They are my business. They are what keeps my clients growing stronger blogs every single day so when I get stuck, it doesn’t only affect me.

WHAT IS CREATIVE OVERLOAD?

Let’s first begin by talking about what it really is. I will describe it as how I feel at the moment. That may better portray what it truly is.

Creative overload is when I feel like I have 1,000 ideas swirling in my head. So many ideas that I can’t truly decipher any of them. My head feels full and confused. I sit at my desk unable to do anything because none of the thoughts even make coherent sentences. NOTHING MAKES SENSE but I can feel so much going on.

It is the very opposite of writer’s block. Writer’s block feels like you have cobwebs in your head. That no matter how hard you try, nothing is coming out because there is nothing in there, to begin with.

Both are frustrating and both can be destructive if you do not have ways to manage them.

HOW TO USE CREATIVE OVERLOAD TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

I am going to give you some fun tips on how to help you overcome creative overload and how you can use it to your advantage. Let’s face it, I would rather have creative overload over writer’s block but that is because creative overload means that you have many opportunities for new content.

You are abundant with ideas and I want to make sure that you are using that to help you build your brand and your blog.

Tip #1| Do a gigantic brain dump.

What is a brain dump you might ask? Well, this is a fun part and there is no need to be organized when you do this. Grab a big piece of paper or a whiteboard. Start writing everything down that comes to you. Believe me, it is going to be more than just blog content and ideas.

You are going to be writing things that are on your to-do list. You are going to be writing feelings down. You are going to be writing EVERYTHING that pops into your head.

How much better do you feel by just getting everything out?

Tip #2| It is time to organize those thoughts.

Now grab a different piece of paper and begin to organize everything that you wrote down. Break them down into categories. My categories usually include…

1. Home
2. Richard
3. Social media
4. Self-care
5. Blog ideas
6. Clients

Begin to place everything that you wrote down in the categories that you chose for yourself.

Tip #3| Give each idea a ranking.

How important are some of those on your list? Grab out your time block calendar. If you don’t know how to create one, I talk all about it in my blog post on budgeting your time as a blogger.

Decide on what needs to be done immediately and what can be scheduled into your calendar to finish. Make sure that you also coincide with all of these things with your daily to-do list. If they are things that can’t be scheduled then just leave them for now. You can always come back to them.

For example, I wrote on my list, sex. That is because it is in my head and I just can’t get it out. Nothing I can do with it right now so I am just going to leave it there.

Tip #4| Work on what you can immediately.

What is something that you can do to help you with that creative overload?

Is it writing? Is it sitting down and meditating? Is it reading?

What will help you begin to take the brain dump and use it to your advantage?

Sometimes creative overload can just come in when you are feeling overwhelmed and unsure of where to start. This is a backwards way of saying, I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to do any of it. BUT we all know that it needs to be done and we need to just step up and do all the shit.

Tip #5| Begin small.

A line from my guest blog post that I am sending out today is this…

Sometimes it is about the small steps versus the big leaps.

We don’t always have to tackle the biggest thing first. Ask yourself these two questions.

1. What on your brain dump feels manageable?
2. What on your brain dump feels completely overwhelming.

Start with the list from question number one. For question number two, you break it down into an even smaller list. So an example of this would be, on my list I have written down, course layout. This is a big one for me and I have been putting it off for a while now.

I even started question number two on my brain dump. I broke it down into different sections underneath that. This will help me to take it step by step and creating my course feels much smaller and more manageable than it did before.

Tip #6| Enjoy the process.

Not every day is going to be filled with ideas so you want to take advantage of the days that you do.

Well, I am now off to have a nap and I hope you all have a fabulous day!