We've all experienced versions of writer's block or artist's block, the feeling of sitting at a blank screen, page or canvas, not knowing what or how to create and terrified we'll never create anything of any value ever again!

The cycle begins to feed on itself, the fewer new ideas you have, the fewer ideas seem to appear.

A kind of desperate starvation mentality sets in.

When you do have the odd idea you seize upon it like a hungry animal, tearing it apart, devouring and discarding it in seconds before looking around frantically for the next idea to present itself.

It's not an enjoyable frame of mind to be in for anyone creative, and leads to further frustration and limiting of new ideas.

Fortunately, this kind of cycle also works at the opposite end of the creativity spectrum.

Once we get a few creative ideas recorded and growing, before we know it there's another and another, and soon we're overflowing with more ideas than we know what to do with.

The more creative ideas we have, the more we seem to have.

We've just got to get the cycle going by having enough ideas initially so that they start sparking off each other and the momentum carries us forward and on to more and more.

So here are 3 powerful ways for you to capture and grow an abundant flow of creative ideas:

1. Use a Creative Ideas Book. This can be any kind of small pocket notebook, something you can easily carry around with you. You can divide the pages into areas or columns and try to organise your ideas as they come in, but often, the simpler you keep this, the more powerful and effective it becomes.

Each time you have a new idea, jot it down in the book. Write enough so you'll be able to come back to the idea and expand upon it, rather than just a writing a word or two.

For example when I thought of the idea for this article, I wrote the title, then quickly added the "3 powerful ways" and a line to describe each of them. I knew this would be enough to return to and grow into an article, which wouldn't have been the case if I'd just written down part of the title or just one of the 3 ways.

2. Use a Creative Voice Recorder. This can be a Dictaphone or any type of portable device capable of recording sound. Many people prefer to hear and speak their way through their ideas before recording them in a written form.

When you have an idea, store it your voice recorder, and add to it any extra details, thoughts and connected ideas you can think of. Again record enough so that when you return to the stored idea, it immediately comes back to life, rather than causing you to feel it's just a collection of random unrelated words.

With the article example, I might have recorded something like "how to capture creative ideas, 3 ways, first is book, write ideas in list forms, second way, vocal recorder, speak through ideas and variations, third way more visual, like a mind map, explain each way and give example of how they might work, remember to capture in enough detail to return to and easily expand…"

3. Use a Creative Sketch Pad. With this method, use a plain sketch pad, again something that's portable enough for you to keep with you at all times. Where the Creative Ideas Book is structured in a list or linear form, use the Creative Sketch Pad in a more free thinking and multi-directional way.

When you have a new idea, write or draw it in the centre of a new page. Then immediately think of the different elements or attributes of the idea. Draw these as lines coming out from that initial central idea.

To use my article example again, I might have put the title in the centre, then had each of the 3 ways as a separate arm extending from the centre, with a few extra details noted down. I could then have added other arms such as "the problem we're addressing", "background scenario", "action points", "key benefits", "other related issues", and so on.

Experiment and practice

You'll know yourself which of these 3 methods is likely to work best for you, but I'd encourage you to try all 3 separately and then in combination to find what's most powerful and effective for your unique way of creating.

The key to all of these methods is to use them as often as possible, and to keep that creativity flowing. Even if you don't feel like you have any new ideas, just record what's in your thoughts and before long a new direction or idea will come to you.

Another tip is each time you record an idea in any of the methods above, think about close variations on the theme and record a few of them too. It's a great time to do this as your mind is tuned into to that particular line of thought. You begin to train yourself to think in sets, groups or collections of ideas, rather than single ones.

So, what are you waiting for, go and get those ideas recorded right away!

© Copyright 2007 Dan Goodwin