More than just lightly toasted, your brain feels singed.
How to Be Creative When You’re Feeling Stressed
What should you do if you’re feeling stressed, but people are still expecting you to produce creative solutions? To start, create a sense of psychological safety. Instead of saying to yourself, ”This has to happen now.” It’s better to tell yourself something like, “I’m going to see what happens.” Then, experiment with activities that can trigger the “diffuse-thinking” state such as walking, napping, or eating. If you still feel stuck, then you may want to give your brain more material to work with. This could look like reading on the topic, taking a field trip to a place where you can see other people’s creative solutions to a similar problem, or talking to experts. It’s also important to give yourself time. When your brain operates at full capacity, you may have the ability to come up with creative thoughts on the fly. But when you’re less than 100%, you’ll have a much better chance of success by giving your brain time to percolate on ideas for a few days.