How to Overcome a Creative Obstacle at Work

We all know that feeling: 3.30-ite slowly creeps through your entire day, and suddenly you’re struggling to get those more important tasks done at work. These creative obstacles at work are incredibly frustrating – but believe us, trying to force your way through it won’t work.

Inspired by Samsung’s commitment to delivering creative solutions with its technology – from the Galaxy S22Ultra to the Galaxy Tab8 series – we’ve found a handful of ways to overcome those moments when you feel like you’re doing nothing.

Back to basics

When you focus on an important task or project for weeks or months, it’s hard to see the forest from the trees. Stepping back and setting yourself (and your team) a task to re-evaluate exactly what you’re trying to accomplish could help bring things back into focus.

Ask questions such as “What do we want to accomplish? “, “How can we achieve this? and “What’s holding us back from achieving our goals?” may seem obvious, but it helps to state them – chances are your team will have different answers, or even you’ll struggle to land on anything, having become so wrapped up in logistics.

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

These big questions also help you identify the problem: David PerkinsHarvard research professor and author of The Eureka Effect: The Art and Logic of Innovative Thinking, says there are two types of challenges, technical and insight-based. Insight is more difficult to grasp, but further determining whether you feel “locked in” by a lack of options or “confused” by too many possibilities will help you determine exactly what your blockage is.

Remember the balance

It’s tempting to double down and stay late at work to solve a problem, but banging your head against a wall only goes so far. Often our biggest breakthroughs come in the shower, while running, or while we’re busy with another task. Quitting and living your life outside of work might seem counterintuitive as a solution to a work problem, but our brains — and our bodies — need balance.

Well-being and well-being can easily get out of hand under stress, but they are essential to being your best and most creative people. It’s obvious advice, but it’s why it’s often overlooked: small daily wellness practices, like meditation, going for a walk during lunch, and eating a good meal go a long way toward restoring balance. One way to help with this is to track 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 clear your mind, there’s a fine line between that and getting stuck in a busy job.

If a larger task isn’t getting the attention it needs due to day-to-day administration or smaller projects, try talking to your boss about spending time on the task at hand. It might feel like a weekly afternoon stuck in your schedule or a shift from your usual responsibilities. Also, some workplaces are instituting “uninterrupted” hours, where you’re simply not available on Slack, email, or even for an IRL meeting. Canceling interruptions is easy enough with Samsung’s Galaxy Buds2, with active noise cancellation that keeps distractions away from you.

turn it on

Are you suffocating at the office or just need to go out and clear your head? A change of perspective and space can make all the difference – we’re big fans of heading to a coffee shop or somewhere sunny to work. With a Galaxy S22 or TabS8, you can work from anywhere, with screens big enough for split-screen apps and juggling tasks to be comfortable. Inspiration can strike at any time, and having the right device to easily implement your master plans will make all the difference.