Spending days on end inside will destroy anyone’s creativity. When creating is your job, trying to defeat a creative funk usually has the opposite effect, leaving you with a bigger block than you had before.

But, before you ignore regulations and guidelines to stay indoors during this pandemic, try some of these safe yet helpful ways to find inspiration.

Key Takeaways:

• Don’t be afraid to jump on a trendy bandwagon. Adding your spin on a trend will usually be welcomed by your audience.
• Quarantine is the best time to re-engage with your audience and listen to them, finding out what type of content they want you to produce.
• Helping people is the perfect way to release some endorphins, and you can do this with very little effort on sites like Quora and Reddit by providing valuable advice and answers.
• Install plugins and use features to block out bad news so you can focus more on the positive part of this pandemic.

1// Catch Up On Trends

There are a plethora of social sites that allow you to take a deep dive into what’s trending, but the best sites for consuming trendy content remain YouTube and Twitter. Twitter is the most obvious place to find the latest and most popular trends as it’s built into the app.

YouTube has a similar tab – titled “trending” – which you can filter to hone in on trends you’d be interested in.

But why find trends when you’re in a creative funk?

Firstly, trends are an excellent resource for creating derivative work.

Often when you’re scrolling through trending topics, an idea will be sparked that could turn into your best work.

But, if you’re too concerned that copying trends will be seen as a rip-off you can read through comments and responses on trending topics. These comments and responses are frequently more exciting and eye-opening than the trend itself, giving you a new take on what’s trending, which you can use to inspire your content.

2// Talk To Followers, Subscribers and “Haters”

Just because you’re the creator doesn’t mean you have to come up with the ideas. Your audience is probably bursting with ideas that you could turn into popular videos, blogs or podcasts.
Since they’re on the receiving end of your content they’re the best people to turn to, if you want to know what other viewers, readers or listeners would be interested in.

You can chat with them on Twitter or a discord server, and pick their brain on ideas you already have in the works to get valuable feedback.

Haters can also act as a reservoir of information, but only if they’re offering constructive criticism. If you’re willing to listen to them, you’ll often find that they’ll provide you with excellent ways to improve your content and elaborate on your ideas.

3// Get Some Fresh Air

Studies have found that a lack of fresh air can severely hinder our productivity. The same applies to a lack of natural light. If you’re feeling lazy and unmotivated, it’s difficult to create exciting content.

The easiest way to overcome this lazy feeling is to start your days by letting light in and opening your windows. You can also make your way to a balcony, garden or nearby park to breath in the fresh air.

Also, throughout the day, as you’re feeling less productive, step away from your work and go outside for a bit. Taking a break from the screen, combined with the fresh air, can provide you with a significant boost in energy.

4// Avoid Fake News

Being surrounded by negative news all the time is one way to drain yourself of energy and creativity. Take the power back by removing fake news from your devices while you try to focus on the positive aspects of life.

There’s a lot of gloom surrounding this pandemic and subsequent quarantine – all of which lead to panic and fear. However, fake news outlets are the worst at adding to panic and fear, as they’re excellent at exaggerating the truth or completely fabricating stories.

Don’t be alarmed, there are many ways you can block out coronavirus – and news related to the pandemic – from your feed.

On Twitter, there’s a feature that allows you to mute certain keywords and accounts that are related to the pandemic, while on Facebook you can snooze content from a specific page.

There are also browser extensions and plugins that will block keywords from appearing on your search, allowing you to focus on more positive aspects during this unprecedented time.

5// Complete A Quick Creative Project

If you can’t find the creativity to complete an entire project, try doing something quick and easy that still gets your creative juices flowing. Something like creating a meme, a Tik Tok, or even writing a short story.

You don’t have to publish your content, you can create a DIY project that’s meaningful to you and will help you relax – a great example of this is trying your hand at creating art or music. You could even simply color an adult coloring book, which is both relaxing and creative.

6// Answer Questions on Quora and Reddit

GQ’s “It’s Actually Me” series was extremely popular, primarily because viewers got to hear accurate answers directly from celebrities. But, the series had another purpose, and that was giving insight into the weird questions people ask on the web.

There’s no better place to discover what goes on in the mind of others than to take a scroll through Quora and Reddit.

You can find problems you can solve through your content, or simply answer someone’s question to the best of your abilities.

The more questions you answer and the more, upvotes you receive, the more your answers will be taken seriously. This also works as valuable exposure for your content, as you become known as a valuable source of information relating to a specific topic.