Ep 147: No Time, No Spark, No Problem: The 10-Minute Ritual to Reignite Your Creativity

Episode Summary

Ever catch yourself glaring at a blank Google Doc, wondering how your once-brilliant brain suddenly feels like it’s not connecting?

If you’re building a business on a tight, three-day workweek (or just want more life in your life), wasting an hour wrangling one stubborn paragraph costs you money, momentum, and sanity. This episode hands you a repeatable ritual to shake off the fog fast so you spend less time second-guessing and more time on work that moves revenue.

In this episode, you will…

• Discover the unconventional 10 minute ritual I personally use and have shared with my clients to shift from being in limbo to creatively unstoppable without needing hours of downtime or divine inspiration

• Learn the surprising physical trigger that helps you bypass your inner critic and reignite flow even when your brain feels totally flatlined

• Find out why a silly kids’ rock song helped me write some of my best content and how weirdness might be the secret to unlocking your genius.

Hit play now and trade today’s creative gridlock for a fresh dose of flow in less time than it takes to scroll your feed.

Schedule a call with Jenna about joining the Clarity Accelerator--the same mastermind that we talk about in this episode--to unlock your inner genius, step into your leadership, and dial in the strategies and mindset that let you work smarter, not harder.     

https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule  

Sign up here to get on the waitlist for Power & Potency, the new mastermind for highly accomplished women entrepreneurs, and hear all new information as it's released: 

https://www.theuncommonway.com/waitlist  

Find Jenna on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/  

This podcast dives into the challenges of leadership, decision making, and delegation, helping women business owners and mompreneurs overcome overwhelm, decision fatigue, and the guilt of working less. Learn to build powerful habits, embrace smarter working, and master time management by streamlining tasks, implementing business systems, and even prioritising self-care. We explore efficiency, productivity, and automation to create passive income, reduce overworking, and finally take time off—without the fear or shame. Say goodbye to imposter syndrome and people pleasing while running a small business: It's time to shift your mindset, reclaim your work-life balance, and thrive! 

Full Episode Transcript:

Jenna Harrison: [00:00:00] In this episode, you'll discover the surprisingly fast and effective virtual that pulls you out of creative fog and back into flow. No matter how myth you're feeling, welcome to the three day work week, helping women entrepreneurs run profitable, meaningful businesses in just three days a week if they like without stress, guilt, or sacrificing growth.

I'm your host, Jenna Harrison, sharing practical strategies, mindset hacks, and even some woo, to help you work smarter leap boldly and find true balance. Let's dive in. Welcome. Welcome back to the three Day Work Week. I'm so glad you're here because today's episode is for every entrepreneur who's ever stared at a blinking cursor thinking, where did my brain go?

You know what I'm talking about? That frustrating creative fog that rolls in at the exact moment. You need to write something compelling or brainstorm something innovative or solve a problem that feels like a total stuck point. We've all [00:01:00] had those moments where you're just sitting there like, I swear it was working yesterday.

Somehow. Today, the entire well feels dry. You either don't know what to say or you write something and then immediately second guess it, rewrite it, tweak it to death, and before you know it, an hour's gone by and you're no closer to actually getting the thing done. Meanwhile, your to-do list is giving you side eye, right.

Here's the thing. When you are on a mission to work a shorter work week, whether that's three days, four days, or just less hustle and more life, you can't afford to waste time like this. Not because you need to be a machine, but because your time is the most precious resource you've got and you've got better things to do than debate whether to smash your laptop against the wall or not.

So let's flip the script. Because we know you've also had [00:02:00] moments, probably more than a few, where the words just flowed. You got into a groove and magic happened. You had the game changing idea. You created something wildly effective. Maybe it brought in money right away or opened the door to something bigger.

What if those moments weren't rare? What if they were repeatable, and what if you could access them without having to go on a week long yoga retreat in Bali or spend the weekend at a cabin in the forest or whatever? Because yes, the world tells you that creativity is this mysterious thing, this fleet muse that may or may not show up depending on the whims of fate and whether mercury is in retrograde, all sorts of things.

But I don't fully buy it. Creativity is not some external force that comes and goes leaving you powerless. It's a muscle, a neurological state, which all of us are born with, and [00:03:00] a rhythm you can learn to access on demand. So today I'm gonna walk you through a simple five part ritual you can do in just 10 minutes to reignite your spark and access your creativity even when you're feeling meh.

Yeah. You know, it's a technical term, meh. So let me be clear though, if you are feeling creatively blocked and you suspect it's because of something deeper, like a fear of failure or fear of success, childhood conditioning, a belief that you're not creative or even a part of you that's suppressing a desire you haven't fully acknowledged, please work with a coach or therapist.

That kind of support is essential and it's costing you both revenue and wellbeing to keep powering through while feeling stuck. But today, we're not gonna go that deep. Today is about your everyday disconnect. The blank screen moments, the mental dullness that sneaks in, [00:04:00] even when you love your business, the feeling of disconnection from your creative flow.

Every human experiences this, especially busy women who have 10 plates in the air and every human can learn to shift out of it. Let's talk about how by the end of this episode, you will discover the unconventional 10 minute ritual I personally use and have shared with my clients to shift from stuck to creatively unstoppable without needing hours of downtime or divine inspiration.

You'll learn the surprising physical trigger that helps you bypass your inner critic and reignite flow even when your brain feels totally flatlined. And you'll find out why a silly kid's rock song helped me write some of my best content and how weirdness might be the secret to unlocking your genius.

But before we get into the ritual, I have to give you the precursor, the thing that determines whether or not any of this will [00:05:00] actually work for you. You have to believe it's worthwhile to reignite your creativity. Some of you are already all in. You know what happens when you're connected to your creative flow, you know, it makes you faster and sharper and more magnetic and more aligned and yeah, more profitable.

Others of you might only give yourself permission to take a beat when things are dire, when the launch is falling apart, when the sales are falling, when you've been aware of the disconnected feeling for too long and it's eating you up. And the difference probably comes down to belief. Do you truly see creativity and whatever it takes to access it as a business critical asset?

Or do you think of it as a luxury? Because here's what's true, the quality of your ideas is the lever that changes everything. Your most aligned magnetic [00:06:00] offers, creative clarity, the copy that converts creative clarity, your connection with the exact people who are craving your secret sauce, creative clarity.

And the reframe that changes an entire industry. You guessed it. Creative clarity. Clarity is queen, and it comes when your mind and body are open and your creativity is ignited. When you believe that accessing your creativity is actually a wise, valuable, productive use of your time, then you start to prioritize it and you stop spinning your wheels trying to push through quick.

Now, let me walk you through the rich. Hey, many entrepreneurs say freedom, but.

If you're past the point of telling yourself that next year you'll finally do things differently and you're ready to align and simplify your business, rewire your brain without guilt, and [00:07:00] actually claim the freedom you started this for all while scaling your business. I'll show you how to do it inside the Clarity Accelerator Mastermind.

Step one is to shake things up. It should take about three minutes. We're talking about a full state change here. You need to shift your vibe and let your brain know that there's a specific before and after songs, music work really well. I like to play a song that has me moving my body in a big exaggerated way, which is fun as hell.

And it's also a hack for nervous system regulation like have you heard Space Unicorn by Perry Grip? It is this weird, wonderful, hard rock kid song that my son introduced me to, and it always makes me laugh and play the air drums. The point isn't the genre, it's the break, right? This is a reset. It creates a definitive line between your old [00:08:00] state, which was that stuck blank, met energy and your new one.

Because you don't need more time to create brilliance. You need a different state. So you wanna move your body in a way that raises your heart rate or takes up space, shake your limbs, you know, jump up and down dance like a muppet. The weirder you feel doing it, the better because it's different than the status quo.

I mean, maybe it's not for you, but it is for me. Because here's our dirty little secret, right? Part of why you're creatively blocked is because you're still giving too many F's about what other people think. The first step is about getting weird, letting go of inhibitions and reconnecting with all the parts of you.

The ones who don't need to be polished to be powerful. You can refine what surfaces later, okay? But for right now, we're after raw. Then step two, this takes about a minute. You need to [00:09:00] activate a sensory trigger so you light a candle or you warm up some essential oil between your palms, or you pull your fuzziest, softest blanket over you.

Whatever it is, create a cue that you can return to again and again. That tells your brain, we are now entering that creative space that we love so much. Think of it like the shower effect. You know how you always get great ideas in the shower? Part of that is because your body relaxes and your mind follows.

The sensory environment shifts and suddenly your brain starts handing you gold. So this is your creative cue. Anchor it in. Step three is to regulate. You only need about a minute for this too. Take a moment just to breathe and center. I know that sounds like a cliche, but this is about tuning into your body and then gently regulating your nervous system.

You might touch something grounding like your carpet, [00:10:00] or put your hands on your chest or just feel the grasp beneath you and notice like what you see, what you hear, what you feel, what you smell. These are activating different parts of your brain. Okay? This isn't just yoga talk. Then remind yourself that at this very moment you are safe.

You are speaking to your limbic brain in a way that it can actually hear when you do these things. Now, you don't need to overthink this, just land. Just bring yourself fully into the present moment, any thoughts that come up, which they will because there's still that active analytical part of your brain as well.

Just gently remind yourself that you will attend to them in a few minutes. But for now, you can just smile at their presence and persistence, and you can bring yourself back to that tactile sensation that you've chosen. Your creativity is never out there. It's here [00:11:00] inside of you, always available, and this step helps you feel that.

Step four is to really connect. Then spend a couple minutes here because this is where we go inward. Close your eyes and do some breath work. Whatever feels good to you, you can do box breathing or I like to intentionally increase the power of my inhales and exhales like,

like that. Get very powerful as I visualize my aura expanding and then changing colors as it fills the room. Right. I imagine kind of the swirling effect as it's moving in and up and out, and I imagine connecting to my higher self, to my truest voice, and then at the end I place my hands over my heart and I say a mantra out loud, whatever comes to me.

Maybe it's like I'm open to what wants to come through, or [00:12:00] the flow of creativity is always available to me. Or I source from truth, not pressure, or I am a creative powerhouse. It doesn't have to be perfectly articulated. You just need to say it with presence and knowingness. You are not demanding brilliance here.

You're simply shifting into what is and inviting what wants to come through. Now, pro tip, as someone who has really tried it, always done it again and again, set a timer for two minutes so you're not distracted by the clock. If you're distracted by the time and distracted by the clock, you keep activating that other part of your brain that you're kind of hoping to shut down a little bit in this process.

So put the timer on. Give yourself that space to just be, and then when the timer goes off, that's when you put your hands over your heart and you say your mantra as many times as you like. Okay, step five is to play. [00:13:00] Do this for three minutes. At least. This is the step that most people skip, but it's really important.

So set a timer and do something that bypasses your inner critic and that analytical part of your mind, stream of consciousness. Journaling is a good one. Doodling is a great one. Watching the clouds float by fantastic. Let your mind wander. Let your hands move if they want. Like no pressure, no expectations.

Because if you jump straight back into that piece of copy you were writing, right? Or any sort of like doing this, you're reentering the pattern that got you here, the part of your brain that said you don't have time for relaxation or whatever it was, and that was so caught up in the pressure that literally closed off your creativity.

So this is where your brain gets out of perform mode and [00:14:00] into receive mode. And sometimes, and this is where the idea drops in other times the idea will come after the ritual. Maybe when you're making lunch or brushing your teeth, that's okay. You've already done the most important thing. You've opened the creative channels and you've tuned your brain to the right frequency.

The more you practice this, the more effective it becomes. Because the truth is you don't have to wait for creativity to strike. You can train yourself to access it. Creativity is not a muse. It is a muscle. You can learn. To say, now is when I create and just trust that something good will follow. And yeah, it might feel like nothing's happening, but give it time, give it consistency.

Because the more you believe that you are the one who activates creativity, the more powerful this ritual becomes and the more powerful you become. You are not [00:15:00] dependent on inspiration. You are the source. And when you really get that, everything changes. You'll stop wasting time trying to brute force your way through stuckness, and you'll stop wondering if you've lost it.

You'll stop telling yourself that creativity is some mysterious magic, only available to a few, probably people who are better than you in some way, right? Because it's available to you, it is available to you right now in this moment through this ritual. So give it a try this week. Save this episode and the next time you feel creatively blocked, pull it out and give yourself 10 minutes to reconnect.

I promise it's. Once you experience the power of this shift for yourself, you'll start to see creativity, not just as something you do, but as a part of who you are. And you'll also start to [00:16:00] question what else is possible for you that maybe you weren't believing right now at this moment? Because training your mind to think uncommonly unlocks a whole new level of impact and possibility.

Okay. That's what I've got for you today. If this was helpful, let me know. Share it with a friend, share it with someone else who needs it, or post your candle on Instagram and tag me or leave a review telling me what landed for you. And of course, if you wanna accelerate your journey into building a different kind of business that actually feels like your most intentional self created it, and one that thrives on a schedule you love.

Then you belong in the Clarity Accelerator Mastermind with us. There's a link in the episode notes to schedule a meet and greet with me and answer all your questions whenever your creative curiosity moves you to do so. All right, my friend. Let's talk again on Tuesday.[00:17:00]

Thanks for joining us here at The Uncommon Way. If you want more tips and resources for developing clarity in your business and life, including the clarity first strategy for growing and scaling your business, visit the uncommon way.com. See you next time.