Getting Around the Block

It’s high noon: The president of the company gives you a great opportunity/initiative/challenge/pitch: Come up with a creative retail idea to save the company/account/economy/world. By 5 p.m.
12:05: You open your sketchbook. You make a random mark with your pen. Crappy pen. You look for a different pen, which leads to re-organizing your desk drawer.
12:30: Desk drawer in order, you check your e-mail.
12:45: Checking Facebook, too.
1:00: A coworker drops by. You complain about the deadline, the strategy, the state of retail today. He suggests a solution. You reject it. He leaves.
1:10: A little voice inside your head whispers, “You can’t do it.” You argue with it.
1:30: It’s really time to buckle down. But first, some water from the fountain …

What’s happening? You’re experiencing creative resistance: pursuing distractions, being overly busy, critical of yourself and others, and fidgety. Under stress, the part of your brain that supplies creative ideas has been hijacked, and you might not know it.

Fortunately, research in neuroscience is helping us better understand this situation. And how to get out of it.

Rosanne Bane, a Minneapolis-based writer, creative coach and admitted brain geek, is writing “Around the Writer’s Block,” a forthcoming book that delves into the secrets of the creative brain. Instead of relying exclusively on anecdotal solutions, she hopes to help creative people understand what the latest findings show us about how the brain works. And what to do when it doesn’t.

You don’t have a brain

“The really important thing for any creative person to know about the brain is that they don’t have one,” Bane says. “They have a brain system.”

The brainstem (reptilian brain) handles respiration, circulation, gross motor movements, feeding and mating behaviors. The limbic brain (mammalian brain) handles emotions and holds the instinctual fight or flight response. And the cortex (human brain) is the seat of creativity, language, abstract thinking, self-will, self-motivation, innovation and all the other things that are so essential in our jobs.

“When you’re in a relaxed state – still energized or engaged with things, but relatively calm – the cortex is in the forefront and you’re able to draw on all of your abilities,” Bane explains. But when you’re under stress, your limbic system takes control. And your cortex switches off.

So don’t blame yourself. Or your job. Or the recession. According to Bane, it’s physiology. “What we do know is that when there’s stress, the amygdala, a key player in the limbic system, gets activated. Then the limbic system is, in essence, driving the bus.”

If your limbic system is in the driver’s seat, your cortex is sitting next to him, behind a toy dashboard. “The tricky part is that the cortex does a really poor job of recognizing when it’s not in control,” she says. “Your cortex honks the little horn and spins the wheel and says, ‘Why aren’t things going the way I think they should?’ ”

So you might think you’re doing your job to the best of your ability. But no. “You’re no longer capable of really new, innovative thoughts. You’re going to be working on what is instinctual.”

Relaxing brings creativity back

What you need to do, when pressure mounts and the usual signs of resistance kick in, is to relax – physically.

“It can seem counterintuitive, but sometimes the most effective thing to do is to actually take a break, go on a walk, close your eyes, relax in your chair, do something that will take the pressure off,” says Bane. “Then you can come back, hopefully with your cortex engaged.”

The good news in all this is that the brain is neuroplastic, able to restructure nerve cells and reorganize neural connections in response to new experiences.

During a study at the University of Wisconsin, a test group attended weekly training in mindfulness meditation for six weeks. Participants were asked to meditate daily. At the end of the study, the control group (who didn’t get the meditation training) reported no significant differences in how they felt. However, the test group reported they felt better physically and felt more relaxed, more optimistic and more creative.

But what’s more important, the test group’s brain scans changed. Meditation increased activity in the left prefrontal lobe, an area of the brain that has been shown to inhibit the amygdala (the troublemaker that’s active during a limbic takeover).

“The conclusion we can tentatively draw,” says Bane, “is that meditation changes how the brain functions. It better prepares you not to experience a limbic takeover when the pressure’s on.”

Regular habits support creativity

Bane recommends three creative habits to keep her coaching clients balanced: self-care, process and product. (See sidebar.) She suggests regular, daily use of each, “because when you’re in a crisis moment, you’re not going to try out new behaviors.”

“Habits create new neural pathways,” she explains. “So if you have an ingrained habit of taking care of yourself, it’s easier for you to continue with that” when the heat’s on.

Whether it’s company-mandated or individually driven, it’s important to take care of your creativity – using self-care and process – so you can stay creative in your product time and throughout your career. Fact is, your creativity won’t work any other way.

Signs that you’re not in control

If your cortex is not good at recognizing a limbic takeover, what signs can you look for? Bane suggests watching your own behavior. And if that fails, listen to your gut. Or ask someone else.
Some common signs that you’re experiencing creative resistance in the workplace:

• Postponing starting the project
• Starting the project and suddenly “needing” to do five other things first
• Sitting down and then popping out of your chair
• Looking for answers at the water cooler or refrigerator
• Staying busy with less meaningful or lower priority tasks
• Endless research beyond what’s really needed
• Trying to involve others or dumping it on someone else’s desk
• Being critical of yourself
• Being critical of others
• Feeling rigid, not being open to new ideas.

Rosanne Bane’s advice about creative resistance can be found on her blog, www.baneofyourresistance.wordpress.com.

Laura Sommers is a partner in Sommers Whole-Brained Creative, a design firm that specializes in retail branding and environments, in-store brand expression, promotions and marketing communications. www.wholebrained.com.