It will often stare at you, the cursor will blink, the computer screen illuminating the room. It’s the dreaded blank page. The thing is, inspiration is either with you or against you, especially when you’re trying to create something at night. You get to the end of your day, looking within yourself for that last bit of creative juice, but you’re all dried up.

The ability to create new ideas is always going to be a spontaneous skill. You can’t strain your mind to create a brilliant idea, because that is not how creativity works. Creativity is a process, it’s that part of you that longs to come out, but you have to know how to bring it out.

Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love did a TED talk on your personal “elusive creative genius.” She talks about how easy it is to link creativity and suffering - how easy it is to see a creative person as a fragile, mentally unstable individual. She also talks about being afraid of creating, due to the immense pressure of living up to expectations.

What I found interesting is how Elizabeth accepted the fact that the creative process is never rational. It will never act in the way you want it to. Which is why creativity always feels like this burden, because it’s not malleable, it can’t be moulded to how you want it. You just have to let it be.

To start with, you have to find your own process.

Brainstorming, waking up in the middle of the night with an idea and writing it down immediately, bouncing ideas off another person, sleeping and eating well are all steps to start creating, but they’re not going to work for everybody.

I, personally, will stare at a blank page and throw words around. I’ll write the first idea that comes down, even if it’s outrageous and I’ll let my brain go from there.

Don’t be intimidated by the blank page.

From a business viewpoint, don’t get too comfortable with where you’re at. If someone suggests a new idea, how about you try it out? Always say “yes, and” because you’re acknowledging an idea and then you’re building on it. Positive reinforcement always works!

At Kuvio Creative, we’ve made a step to recreate ourselves. We looked at a blank page and went wild. We’re in the planning stages of doing something great and we’d love to have you along for the ride.

It started off as the crazy idea to hold a contest, but we also wanted to spread an important message. How could we, as a small business, help others? We feel the need of those who struggle to get ahead because of being in a minority.

We’re also looking at the inner workings of how we communicate as a team, especially because we all work remotely. How do we bond as a team? How do we make sure we’re sending the right message? Do we know we’re talking to the right person about a task?

You’ve got to ask the questions to start creating. Find the creative process that will work for you as a person and as a team.

You might have recently noticed that we’ve changed our whole look. We went from subtle and calm to bold and quirky. It was a risk, but we knew we had to do it to ensure that we stood out from the crowd.

Making changes can be scary, but it’s a rewarding experience for you and your team. You all get to see different sides of each other and learn to trust in each other’s ideas. You grow, take risks and understand how your mind creates something special. Never let go of the creative process as it will breathe life into your imagination.