5. 100 (Yes, 100!) Sources of Creative Inspiration
A loooong list of ideas for overcoming creative block
Imagine going to the doctor for creative block. (Imagine having insurance that would cover this!)
The diagnosis might actually be a lot simpler than you think. You are not a failure, you are not idea-less, you are certainly not uncreative. You are simply empty. “The word ‘block’ suggests that you are stuck, when the truth is that you're empty,” says author Anne Lamott. Authors like Anne, but also artists, creators, even us marketers, we get creative block all the time. You are not alone. To be our best creative selves, we must simply fill ourselves up with creative inspiration.
So…here are 100 sources to get you started. 󠅓💯
100 sources of creative inspiration
If you want to save this list for later, check out this swipe file we made just for you. Feel free to bookmark it, save it, print it off and put it in your keepsake box or pin it to your vision board.
And please let us know your ideas, too! Drop us a comment or send us a note.
Section 1: Things to bookmark
The Marginalian – A compendium of amazing books and book highlights that will make you think.
Swiss-Miss – A curated list of Internet goodies – notes, quotes, gifts, and designs – maintained by Tina Roth Eisenberg who founded Creative Mornings and Tattly.
Austin Kleon – Austin wrote the book on creativity! (Well, a book on creativity.) He’s the mind behind blackout poetry, and his website and newsletter are chock full of ways to lean into doing more of the creative work you want.
Little Inventors - Brilliant ideas from children. Like “book carpet” and “food tape.”
Ari Murray’s Go To Millions newsletter – Ecomm and DTC marketing inspiration sent three times per week. (Browse the entire WorkWeek library for other great newsletters, especially Hebba Youssef’s I Hate It Here newsletter about People and HR culture.)
Dense Discovery – A newsletter full of interesting links, tools, books, accessories, and art.
Marketing Examples from Harry Dry – Dozens (hundreds?) of real-life marketing examples and what makes them work.
Copywriting swipe file – Curated by the fine folks at Copywriting Course.
Brand New – A remarkably astute branding blog that breaks down the latest re-brands and design decisions.
The Pudding – A bit of interactive data visualization journalism that answers questions like how J. Dilla’s offbeat breakdown works.
Independent films – Basically, anything by A24 Films, the production company behind Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Big Sick, and more.
Listen to Rick Rubin talk about anything.
Children’s TV shows, secretly enjoyed by adultsAdventure Time
Kiff
Steven Universe
Bee and PuppyCat
Or, you can just read the descriptions of these shows and feel inspired. For example, here’s the description for Bee and PuppyCat:
”An unemployed woman named Bee lives a normal life until her grumpy companion PuppyCat arrives and they begin traveling between reality and ‘Fishbowl Space.’”
Substack(s)Garbage Day – Excellent social media criticism and meme spelunking.
Blackbird Spyplane – A style and culture newsletter with an art direction that speaks to humanity’s ClipArt sensibility.
Sublime – A collection of curated thoughts and ideas from Sublime CEO Sari Azout.
Gobbledy – Fun and interesting marketing lessons told with a creative voice.
Snaxshot – Curated food and beverage news, a category that is full of creative products.
Kyle Chayka Industries – Reflections on our attention economy.
Cool TikTokers
Jordan Stoddard — Uses his design and animation background to make out-of-the-ordinary videos.
Emily Zugay — Funny parodies of design thinking. Is the only account Microsoft follows.
Cleo Abram — Former Vox journalist now making shortform edutainment.
RosaIllustration — Behind the scenes of some amazing illustration work.
Cool Instagram accountsSimply.cool.design — Unique and cool digital designs and ads.
My self-love supply — Quotes and inspirational content on mental health.
Design Milk — A collection of smartly-designed everyday objects.
Cool YouTube accounts
Architectural Digest home tours — A modern version of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (but with more shiplap).
The School of Life — Videos about self-understanding and emotional maturity.
Tasty — Buzzfeed’s food and recipe home.
Section 2: Things to experience IRL
Go for a walk. Because science.
Volunteer at a local non-profit. Though it might seem counterintuitive, giving to others is a fast-track to you feeling more filled up.
Read a book from a genre you wouldn’t typically read. A great place to look is a book challenge list with genres and topics that get you thinking outside the box.
Take an art class. Painting, pottery, glass blowing, you name it.
Go to a lecture about a topic you know nothing about. Or watch a talk online.
Do a jigsaw puzzle. Here are some fun ones from Ordinary Habit.
Visit the library or your local bookstore. Even if you don’t have time to read something, just look at all those cool book covers.
Go dancing – in your room, in a club, in a ballroom, in the rain.
Have a “Treat Yo Self” day where you reward yourself for a small victory and build some positive reinforcement for your creative work.
Take a nap. It’s like hitting a reset button on your brain.
Eat some adult cereal. Or, just take a look at the branding and websites for adult cereal like Magic Spoon and Off Limits.
Cook something you’ve never cooked before, or use an ingredient you’ve never heard of.
Start your day with an ice bath. Really! They work to stimulate the brain (or so TikTok tells me).
Get a new tattoo. Real or temporary.
Keep a notebook by your desk, a real paper one, that you can jot down ideas throughout the day and revisit on occasion to re-spark your creativity.
Related idea: Get yourself a fancy pen and/or a fancy notebook. This will make writing feel all the more luxurious. Apparently the Pilot G2 will change your life.
Sweat. Ideally, because you’re exercising, not because you’re fretting your creative block.
Section 3: Things for your brain
Try a quick meditation session with an app like Headspace or Calm or just with you sitting quietly, alone with your thoughts, for a few minutes. (Spooky, I know.)
Zen out with some zen games.
Iceberger - Draw an iceberg and see how it will float.
Jam out to some cool music on Poolsuite FM – and feel inspired by the brand experience of the site.
Put on some chill background music. I like Oldies Playing in a Coffee Shop in the Rain.
Try your hand at a word game. The New York Times has a bunch of ‘em, including the classic crossword, the maddening Wordle, and a cute little Spelling Bee. 🐝
Write a six-word story. One of the most famous six-word stories is credited to Ernest Hemingway who wrote, “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.”
Try workstation popcorn. Move work locations at regular intervals during your day, whenever you switch tasks. For instance, you might do writing from the kitchen table, you might answer emails from the couch, and you might do research from your desk.
Try some brain-benefiting supplements. Here’s one called Moon Juice.
Play a silly game on your phone or your Nintendo. Might I suggest:
Bacon – You try to flip bacon onto random objects.
Untitled Goose Game – You are a goose.
Overcooked – You must cook food with your friends.
Play a fun game with your friends or family. Some options:Pictionary – telephone pictionary, or regular pictionary
Catch Phrase – Get your team to guess a word as quickly as possible.
Settlers of Catan – Collect resources to build settlements and cities.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes – Defuse a bomb with your team.
Section 4: Things from the past
Look through old photo albums. There’s something remarkable about seeing yourself as a baby – or seeing which haircut you had as an eighth-grader.
Ask your parents or grandparents to tell you some stories about life growing up. Creativity can benefit from a little perspective.
Go through the archives of your local newspaper
Go through past issues of your favorite magazine.
Scroll through your own Instagram posts. Better yet, scroll through your (dormant?) Facebook account. Better yet, pull up your old MySpace!
Deep dive your camera roll on your phone. What picture did you take a month ago? A year ago?
Check out the 70 over 70 podcast for interviews with people over the age of 70.
Or, for some added perspective, check out The Ezra Klein Show and A Bit of Optimism for interviews and stories that will expand your horizons.
Section 5: Things from the future
See what cool businesses other people are making. Here’s a bunch from iFundWomen.
Plant something – a tree, if you have the room, or a flower or a vegetable. Anything that will get your hands a little dirty and will bear its yield in the future.
Go find a petition to sign. Here is a list of some U.S. ones that need signatures.
Invest in someone’s creative idea through a platform like Kickstarter.
Become a donor for a creator you appreciate on Substack or Patreon.
Make a vision board of what you want your future to entail.
Plan your week ahead using a beautiful Notion template or an old-school calendar.
Daydream. Spend some time thinking about “how great could things be” rather than preparing for “what’s the worst that could happen.”
Write a letter to your future self.
Write a letter to a friend.
Write a letter to Santa!
Section 6: Things to read
Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird
Stephen King’s On Writing
Virginia Heffernan’s Magic & Loss
Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic
Dr. Julie Smith’s Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before
David Duchemin’s Start Ugly
Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art
Anything by Brene Brown
Anything by Dr. Seuss
Calvin and Hobbes comics. (Here’s a Calvin and Hobbes search engine if you need to find something specific.)
Flip through a good old-fashioned coffee table book. The more pictures, the better.
Read a kid’s book. (Btw, kid’s books totally count for that annual reading goal you set for yourself this year.)
Read the dedication section at the end of a favorite book. It’s a good reminder to be grateful to all the people who have helped us along our creative journeys over the years and that the things we create are the result of many, many inputs.
Read restaurant reviews. It’s amazing how many ways there are to describe food.
The Kumbaya Moments substack. And look at that, you’re already reading it. Congrats! (This deserves a Treat Yo Self day. See #41 above.)
Before you go …
You’re invited to hang out with us! We’ll be hosting a brand storytelling workshop with the Wynter team next week, and we’d love to see you there.
It’s a 100% free event, Thursday, October 19, 2023, at 11:00 am Eastern Time.
You can register now to grab your virtual seat (and if you can’t make it, you’ll be signed up to get the recording). We’ve got some fun stuff planned and some cool info to share with you all!
Also …
Congrats to Shari Weiss for winning last week’s book giveaway! We’ll be in touch on how to get you a copy of Real Self-Care.
For more…
Follow us on LinkedIn and on Instagram. Stay tuned to our Substack space for new community features and ways to meet your fellow subscribers.
And let us know if you’d like to go deeper with us to talk about you and creativity. We do:
1:1 coaching and mentorship 🤩 most popular 🤩
Team workshops and consulting for marketing and leadership
Speaking and appearances on podcasts and at events
Yay! "Real Self-Care" sounds right up my alley!