Writer’s block certainly knows how to rear its devious head at the worst of times; you’re on a roll and the world is singing your song then, when you least expect it, it’s all “Hello, is it me you’re looking for,” as the music fills in where your creativity was flourishing.

We all have our own methods to assist, but they are not always effective in silencing Lionel Richie in his pursuit to steal you away from your passion as he lulls you along in his need for you, asking you to love him instead of that upcoming deadline vying for your attention.

Luckily, writer’s block can be beat by redefining it and executing what is acting against you that leaves you asking, “How do I overcome writer’s block?” and turn it into, “How I beat writer’s block.”

#1: B is for Behavior.

B is for behavior, as in be your behavior. There are a lot of factors here and you have to ask yourself if it was Lionel’s singing that destroyed your concentration or if it was really his music asking you what you needed more.

Your body will signal what it needs despite what you want. Have you been pushing yourself far too hard? Eating a screen more than a meal? Are the bathroom breaks your only social getaway and as you flush the toilet, you find the sounds the only sensory input you’ve had outside the clacking of your keys on the keyboard? A toilet flush should not be the sound of merriment! Well, mostly.

Sometimes that writer’s block isn’t telling you that you lost your creativity, but that you exhausted it. As a creator, you have to understand your genius and as much as we like to deny it, it does have a limit. You have to fuel that fire efficiently or it will smolder out and leave you staring at the ceiling.

You, too, need to organize yourself and layer your work with both what you are creating and the human creating it. That means understanding what you need more and if fighting it, you are prolonging the struggle versus feeding your passion the nutrients a creation needs and getting back on task.

Let’s move through our block and continue to our next sediment.

#2: L is looking at you!

Look leads with the next step in identifying your goal and purpose in the goal. Often times, you have to ask yourself if you actually forgot that while forcing yourself to identify with it.

And while you’re at it, look at yourself also and what your behavior speaks to. Are you much better with argumentative writing? Do you prefer emotional tones and the current piece is feeling dry? On the other end, is the current writing asking for more emotional response and there is triggering or a difficulty in formulating your voice this way?

These are blocks themselves and a part of the purpose and goal, if you find yourself battling with them then you’re negotiating more than just a writer’s block but now your voice and how it navigates between what is coming out and everything coming in.

Look at what you’re creating and find solutions to inspire the chaos currently juggling more than words to formulate.

You have to recapture the inspiration in the goal and objective, identify what that is and let it give you back purpose in it.

That may mean looking at data sets that argue against your position, or watching short video clips on the subject, googling terms similar and seeing what others have spoken or how they voice their writing within that base.

For all intended purposes, you could pretend you were a pirate and talk in your head like one or write randomly, “Argh Matey,” between sentences or whatever other lingo you want; the creativity is there because you are a creator, and we are eccentrics best infused within our words as we’re fairly all over the place otherwise. What’s missing is the purpose and goal that stole the show; remember, you are what is being created and the rest is data.

#3: O ohh optimize this mess!

So, you have your brain refueled and the look on the goal and purpose precise to the agenda; you’re almost ready to go, but you have more work to do!

O is for the optimization of that output, both internally and externally.

Is your work environment adequate? Do you feel scattered because you see clutter more than the beauty in that space? If you walk into your workspace and it doesn’t feel like the boat carrying you across the river to completion successfully, then you’ll find multiple reasons not to get on that trip to it.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be comfortable and clear of those hellos who will peak in. This means completing tasks before you get on task by assessing the space first and if it doesn’t feel right, change the space. This may mean something major like rearranging furniture to something as simple as organizing the area – you have to follow the feeling that is fighting what you need in that energy that wants to create because something is not satisfied. It doesn’t always make sense, but it gives in completion. Whatever you walk into, make sure it’s the right space because you created it to be so and if it isn’t, change it or the room.

You also need to optimize your sensory needs and have cues to assist near you that can help clear you. Is it too quiet? Do you have a random playlist made to stream or a radio for the random nearby with pre-programmed presets to do less searching and just add it to the atmosphere how you need it? Do you do well with television in the background? Do you have movies you’ve seen before lined up that require less attention but still give what you’re craving? Have you ever tested between music styles or sounds to interlay in your space?

There is optimization with the people and chores in your life – scheduling and organizing your tasks play a role in what is building up or needing your attention in the background, as well. Treat whatever you are doing as a job you label, which should mean more putting your phone on silent or limited to stay on task the same as if you were working a cash register with customers lined up.

I don’t like forcing writing into a time slot because I do not do well with enforcement, from others or myself, and it’s not practical for me. I do have time frames and breaks I take between; I also have a day to myself in which I don’t do anything. Your schedule will reflect what works for you so you have to review and optimize it to the best practical way you can function it, rather than letting it function you.

The more you understand your behavior, the look at in the goal, and consistently optimize yourself and your space – the less blocks you’ll have and efficiently write rather than negotiate what challenges your ability to complete the goal.

These are long term integrations that are preventative but also fluid as you are with your mood. You have to experiment and test to build a framework that is you; it’s crucial because what works for others won’t necessarily be your golden standard. Often times, it’s a collection of multiple angles that settle on different needs. Perhaps, you just needed to do some jumping jacks or play with a fidget to recenter, and it could be that simple, but if you don’t have methods in that toolbelt – you have the wall to stare at.

#4: C can capture.

External tools can assist with writer’s block and help you overcome some of those barriers, but what are those tools and how do they capture what you need?

Think of everything around you as a tool to hack with, both inside your head and outside it, because they really are.

Are you capturing a mood? As writers, we know we can write about happiness while at the same time we would designate our own happiness at some of the lowest points yet why is that? Because we’re signaling to something we are craving and even, a lot of the times, writing to ourselves in those moments.

Signals are important cues so utilize them; look at photos of your family, write letters in your head to those in your life you love or remember that person or event that angered you, turn up the music and dance or watch a video clip of that llama laughing that I could literally stare at all day and just giggle – you are hacking your energy to align with what voice and tone is being asked and if it’s not in your moment, you can fill it in.

Keep notebooks, even a small one, near you to write down ideas and any random inspirations running through your mind while completing general tasks. Cell phones are great with voice recording and notes to jot down when an inspiration flutters by that you can’t build on in the current moment.

Larger notebooks are great to organize data in a way that becomes collected in a literal way, your own library of notes on a specific subject or class of information. You don’t need to overwhelm your brain and you will if you consistently force it to hold more information than it needs. Let the notebook contain the mass of the work that you’ll only use as needed.

The same can be said with using tabs and bookmarks to assist with data sets; organize them as specifically as you need because you will have to retrieve the information as needed and the harder it is, the more frustrated you’ll become.

What you are trying to capture and bottle up is an essence to take you through what you need in a moment without the weight of pulling it together less effectively and organize it with a part of your optimization.

#5: K is the know you need to succeed.

Wrapping up our writer’s block comes down to what you know and how you apply it. The truth is, it was never a devious Lionel singing his, “Hello, is it me you’re looking for,” that reared its head in but yourself and the attributes fighting against what a moment asks.

Writing is an energy we apply words to, it’s the building blocks of an I we designate to the form we are writing them to and it’s not always everyone’s taste, but it has to be yours because you’re the one creating it.

Knowing what a block speaks and having the tools to review, assess and find solutions is more similar to writing a book on yourself about the unique author you are and each chapter noting what that creator is as a human and in art.

Following these steps and what is written in that book will give you those answers when you need them because you’ll already know the solutions, the rest will do itself as whatever you are doing, the creator never left.

The writer’s block is much easier to manage when the writer becomes the (B)ehavior to (L)ook and (O)ptimize what they (C)apture while utilizing what they (K)now.