How to keep going: Navigating the ebb and flow of creativity and motivation

Wise Guides is an advice series for creatives navigating the first years of their careers. In this piece, Danielle Pender looks at all the factors standing in the way of you getting going – from creative block, to health, money, routine and expectations – and shares tips to nudge you off the starting blocks.

Motivation is a tricky and nebulous thing – much like inspiration. It means different things to different people; it can strike at odd times and drain away just when you need it most. At its core, motivation is the driving force that compels you to follow the kernel of an idea, to keep going, and create whatever it is that captures your interest. If your creative outlet is the thing that makes you money, gives you purpose, or simply makes you feel a little better about being alive, it can be worrying and pretty depressing when your motivation vanishes without leaving an out of office when it’ll be back.

But all is not lost!

A loss of motivation is often linked to some kind of block – be it money, self-belief, a messy routine, or a lack of purpose. Some of these blocks overlap, while others stand alone. And while it may be impossible to pinpoint your exact issue on a personal level in an article like this, there are practical steps you can take and questions you can ask yourself to help unearth what motivation means for you and how you can reignite the spark that has perhaps been snuffed out. Below, we’ve gathered some of the most common challenges and potential solutions to help you get back on track.

Side projects

As budgets have shrunk over the last few years, it feels like many creatives took on full-time or in-house jobs, which perhaps offered financial security but didn’t allow for much creative freedom, and I get a sense that the side project is making a comeback. The side project is more of a hobby and shouldn’t be confused with the draining side hustle, which is more about making as much money from your extracurriculars as possible. It’s potentially niche, self-indulgent, unscalable – something you can’t optimise but absolutely love. It should be fun, involving people you like working with, bringing maximum joy and minimal pressure into your life. Here, you can play, experiment, and rediscover your motivation for your creative self outside the confines of what is going on in the rest of your life.

Solution: Tala Safié is the graphics and multimedia editor at The New York Times who works to tight deadlines within a relatively rigid set of design rules that need to exist for the newspaper to function. Outside of her day job, she cultivates her creativity and motivation by making time for personal projects that allow her to connect to her homeland of Beirut and work with people she finds inspiring. As she explains: “In my personal practice, I try to collaborate with friends, particularly those from Beirut, to stay connected with home – and it’s a great excuse to work on bilingual projects. I also try to take on print projects to balance the digital focus of my daily job – it's my way of scratching the print itch.” These projects have included Salmandal – a subversive Lebanese comic; Cold Cuts – a bi-annual photo journal exploring queer culture in the middle east; and she guest-edited an issue of The Smudge.

You could also take a cue from Miranda July, who, while struggling to cast a character for her film The Future, embarked on a project that became her book It Chooses You. By stepping away from her film project and interviewing random people, she reinvigorated her love for the film and found the perfect actor for the role.

So, the next time you're stuck, look elsewhere for a little light creative procrastination – you never know where it might lead you. (See also this feature on how ‘unfocus’ time can sometimes be helpful in the creative process.)

How are you?

What do you need to feel good? More sleep? Less booze? More support? Less caffeine after 2pm to avoid that crushing headache and anxiety? If your motivation is waning, it could be because you're not taking care of yourself.

Dopamine is the clever hormone that controls our motivation. However, our dopamine is constantly under attack in our modern world, and our motivation is often depleted. The worst offenders are your phone/social media, alcohol, drugs, stress, lack of sleep, poor diet – too much saturated fat and ultra-processed food. These give your brain a huge spike in dopamine, but as it tries to stabilise, it dips below your natural levels, leaving you feeling worse – which is why you feel so terrible after a deep social scroll or late-night bender.

Fortunately, there are simple habits you can incorporate into your day to help stabilise your dopamine levels. These might include regular exercise, healthy eating, mindfulness practices, or simply limiting your exposure to things that cause dopamine spikes. For Angela Kirkwood, a solid and straightforward routine is best; “Firstly, and this might sound too simple, but I find that just making sure I have had enough sleep, drank enough water, had breakfast, and getting out for a walk makes the biggest difference to my energy and motivation levels.”

This waning motivation might also be a sign that your mental health needs prioritising. Seek out friends and collaborators to talk about what you’re going through, or if you need it, see your GP or try to find a therapist who can offer more in-depth and specialised advice. There are resources at places such as Better Help and Mind for finding a range of therapies – and advice on getting free therapy if needed.

Expectations

Sometimes, motivation takes a hit when you've been working on something that doesn't resonate with you as you’d hoped. There could be numerous reasons why something isn't landing that you can't control, but one thing you can control is your level of expectation.

Did you think your work would go viral, but it didn’t? Were you expecting an award or to be further along in your career by now? Are you measuring your success on the back of someone else’s or a wider societal set of rules? These unmet expectations can fester and impact your motivation.

Solution: Check in on where your ideas or markers of success have come from. Is it an accurate representation of what is important to you, or have you absorbed it from elsewhere? A helpful quote to remember is, “Happiness = reality - expectations.” Normally we feel disappointed when our expectations aren’t met, so perhaps audit how aligned yours are for yourself and your work because while motivation isn’t the same as happiness, they are closely linked. When you’re happier at work, your motivation increases, driving you to pursue your ideas further.

Angela Kirkwood makes a great point about the importance of creating work that’s close to home: “I think making work that you feel personally connected to, rather than trying to guess what you think others might like or what is popular at the time, is important for keeping motivation.”

WTF?

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter what you do; you just can’t get into it and don’t know why. You’re lethargic, but you had a good night’s sleep. You’ve seen your pals, and they love what you’re doing, but you still feel like shit. Sometimes, you just have to give yourself a break and take it easy. I’m not a big believer in pushing through or battling against our natural urges, but I do believe in starting small.

Rather than climbing the whole mountain, can you start small and send one email, sketch out one idea, tidy your desk, go for a walk, build one page of the deck you’ve been avoiding, research one reference, and see how you go from there? Starting simple and keeping things low-stakes means you can feel the buzz of having completed something, which may kick-start your motivation to continue.

But also, we’re not robots. We don’t have to be producing and creating all of the time to be of value. Life is short, so fuck it, go and sit in the grass or have a beer at 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon. It’ll all still be there in the morning.

Recap:

Get to know yourself, when you work best, and when you’re most motivated.

Build a routine that supports your lifestyle and needs.

Procrastinate a little – it might lead to unexpected inspiration.

Seek out support when you need it.

Get your relationship with money straight.

Check in on your expectations and adjust them if needed.

Make yourself useful in ways that matter to you.

It’s okay to call time on something that no longer serves you.

Start small and build from there.