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Day 561. I am sitting in front of my tablet and am scratching my head. I had thought about a topic this morning for this post, but it vanished… It should have been a bad topic. I am looking through the window and it rains. Definitely a day to be working, but I have not a single idea for this post. Then of course, the idea comes in because I am using one of the following techniques to get ideas pouring in. And the idea is to share with you how to deal with the blank page syndrome. The problem? You need to write of paper or put a project plan together, or produce whatever that needs to be produced starting from scratch, and you do not know how to start, or where to start. Use any of those simple 3 techniques and you will experience the magical effect of creativity unleashed:

1. Start typing (or writing, or any other activity that is required for the task you have to do). Type the first idea that comes. It can be your printer is black, why is this printer black by the way? Or it can be that it is raining and you love the smell of earth and nature after the rain. The trick here is to start a train of thought. Your unconscious mind will create links and ideas will start flowing. Continue writing until you have the right one.
2. Flip through previous projects, texts, or ideas. The best way to create something new is to start from something existing. Actually very few new things are really new. They are just an enhancement of something that existed and presented as new.
3. Switch to something else… Hey, but I need to do this thing, I cannot switch to something else. Actually, if you are familiar with the concept of « lacher-prise », or « let go », you understand that holding to something too hard is counterproductive. You need to get away from the thing that blocks you to be able to get back into it. Counter intuitive? Sure, but really powerful. So let go, start something else, and in a matter of minutes, ideas will fly in so naturally you’ll wonder why they did not come sooner. The magic of Let go!

The human brain is full of mysteries. Sometimes, with these conscious techniques, we will « fool » our unconscious brain so it provides what we are looking for. Try it, you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain in terms of creativity and productivity. Voilà, I am happy, I went to no idea to a blog post in ten minutes.