How to Overcome a Creative Roadblock at Work

This article is sponsored by Samsung.

We all know that feeling: 3.30-itis slowly creeps over your whole day, and suddenly you’re struggling to get those bigger picture tasks done at work. Those creative road-blocks at work are incredibly frustrating — but trust us, trying to push your way through sheer force won’t work.

Inspired by Samsung’s commitment to providing creative solutions with their technology — from the Galaxy S22Ultra to the Galaxy Tab8 Series — we’ve come up with a handful of ways to overcome those moments where it feels like you’re just getting nothing done.

Back To Basics

When you’ve been focusing on a big task or project for weeks or months on end, it’s hard to see the forest from the trees. Taking a step back and setting yourself (and your team) a task to reassess exactly what you’re trying to achieve could help recentre things.

Asking questions like, “What do we want to achieve?”, “How can we do so?” and “What is blocking us from our goals?” may feel obvious, but it helps to state them — chances are, your team might have different answers, or even you might struggle to land on anything, having become so wrapped in logistics.

Whether that looks like writing it down or creating a brainstorming day, these steps can help refocus you and remember what exactly you’re trying to do. We’re a big fan of the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s built-in S Pen or the Galaxy Tab S8, which makes doodling those ideas — rather than misplacing your paper notes — easy, whether on the fly or in the middle of a meeting.

These big questions also help you pinpoint the problem: David Perkins, Harvard research professor and author of The Eureka Effect: The Art And Logic Of Breakthrough Thinking, says there’s two types of challenges, technical and insight-based. Insight is more difficult to wrangle, but further narrowing down whether you feel “boxed in” by a lack of options or “bewildered” by too many possibilities will help you address what exactly your blockage is.

Remember Balance

It’s tempting to double-down and stay late at work to nut out an issue, but hitting your head against a wall only goes so far. Often, our biggest breakthroughs come in the shower, on a run or while busy with another task. Stopping and living your life outside of work might feel counter-intuitive as a solution to a work issue, but our brains – and bodies — need balance.

Wellbeing and wellness can easily slide out of whack when stressed, but they’re essential to being our best, most creative selves. It’s obvious advice, but that’s why we often overlook it: small daily practices of wellness, like meditation, going for a walk during lunch and making a proper meal go a long way to getting back in balance. One way to aid that is by tracking your health with Samsung’s Galaxy Watch4, as you’ll be more aware when your body is trying to tell you to be kinder to yourself.

Don’t Get Bogged Down In Side Projects

While focusing on something else for a while can help free your mind, there’s a fine line between that and getting stuck in busywork.

If a bigger picture task isn’t getting the attention it needs because of daily admin or smaller projects, try to talk to your superior about dedicating time to the task at hand. That could look like a weekly afternoon blocked out in your calendar, or shifting your usual responsibilities around. Also, some workplaces institute ‘uninterrupted’ hours, where you’re simply unavailable on Slack, email or even for an IRL meeting. Cancelling out interruptions is pretty easy with Samsung’s Galaxy Buds2, with an active noise cancellation that shuts you off from distractions.

Switch It Up

Stifled in the office, or just need to head out and clear your head? A shift of perspective and space can make all the difference — we’re big fans of heading to a café or sunny spot to work. With a Galaxy S22 or TabS8, you can work from anywhere, with screens large enough that split-screening apps and juggling tasks is comfortable. Inspiration can strike at any time, and having the right device to action your master plans with easy will make all the difference.