Sunday Stills: Context switching to regroup and refresh, easier said than done?

My routine stifles my creativity and our first creative prompt.

I started documenting my creative thoughts and art play calling these shared explorations (sometimes) on my Instagram stories as Sunday Stills because I was finding myself actioning these spontaneous musings on a Sunday afternoon. It seemed like a natural time of my week to do something creative just for me, especially after we have spent time away from the house on a family outing to the city, to lunch or the country. I wonder if changing up the weekly routine on the weekend gives me the energy, I need to create new things, simply from changing my everyday context. I talk a lot about context switching and how (just like many other creatives) a routine can stifle my creativity.

It sounds romantic to simply ask you to take a walk or read a magazine that you wouldn’t normally look at or visit an art gallery to change up your perception – but it really can help! Just like reorganising your furniture and getting a haircut, breaking your routine to see or experience something a little different from your regular activities can shake up your outlook more than you might think. You might find that you are not being so productive at your computer, for example and decide to go for a short walk or make a hot drink in the hope that some ideas may flow in, sometimes they do, but sometimes this can be just procrastinating in disguise.

When I have something due, suddenly, the cleanliness of my desk becomes urgent, or the floors need mopping ... that’s just me escaping. I have had to force myself to be okay with a little mess (I will get to that later) and just open the laptop and GET-IT-DONE!

So instead of using the time to go for a walk, or a dance class as an escape, I like to be at a point in my thinking process (on an ideal day) before I leave the desk, that enables me to have a problem or an idea that I can percolate during that time.

It is similar to why you might find you get your best ideas when you wake in the middle of the night, or in the shower, or sweeping the floor, the physical routine that you can do without thinking too much, gives you the headspace to generate new ideas or solve a problem more indirectly because you are not trying to force the work.