If you are running your own business from home, it is likely that you are either creating hand-made products or offering services on a contractual basis – like copywriting or graphic design. This kind of entrepreneurship requires a steady flow of creativity. However, being creative is not guaranteed from day to day, or even hour to hour.

If you ever find yourself unable to work on a project from home, there are ways you can solve that problem that may not be available to you in more traditional work environments. Let’s investigate a few examples now.

Addressing creative block when it occurs proves difficult for some, because we have all been conditioned since youth to stay on task and solve the problem – regardless of its difficulty. Creative work cannot be carried out in such a fashion. You may end up spending hours trying to find inspiration, only to get nothing done.

If you notice this, simply get up and do something else. Taking care of a household chore, a short walk in the park, or practicing the guitar allows your mind to be occupied by something else for a while. When you head back to work, you’ll be in a different frame of mind, which could help you get things moving again.

Just because you work from home, that does not necessarily mean you have to work from home exclusively. Libraries and coffeeshops are perfect examples of places where you can get things done away from home with little distraction. Unless you have equipment that cannot be moved, like a desktop computer or heavy-duty tools, a short-term change of environment can help brush off the negative aspects of your routine. You may also consider investing in a laptop or portable tools, that way you can brainstorm and draft away from home before you finalize your work at home.

Finally, it should be mentioned that it is not always necessary to work from a procedural method. Sometimes, the luck of the draw could give you what you need to pull through the tougher moments.
The I Ching is a book that has been used by Chinese sages for several millennia to create changes in attitudes and thought processes concerning open-ended questions. Using the oracle within the book allows you to read a certain passage that will give you counsel based on the question you ask it. A more modern example of chance-based divination is the Oblique Strategies – a deck of cards created by Peter Schmidt and famous musician Brian Eno, which has a single cryptic message on each of its cards. Based on how you interpret these messages, you can implement its meaning into the task at hand, creating solutions.

As you can see, creative solutions require creative approaches. In traditional work culture, such approaches are akin to rules that have been broken. But when you work from home, you have the power to solve creative problems in the way that works best for you!