When the world speeds up, originality slows down.
There is a moment every creative, strategist, founder, and marketer hits at some point. You sit down to work and everything feels fine. Not bad. Not great. Just fine. Your ideas come out clean, logical, safe. They look good on paper but feel strangely forgettable. And you realize you have not created something that genuinely surprised you in a while.
That is the start of the Creativity Recession.
It does not show up as burnout. It shows up as sameness.
The pace of work has never been faster. AI is pumping out endless content and, without meaning to, you start measuring yourself against the output instead of the impact. Deadlines get tighter, thinking time gets compromised, and the room you need to make something actually interesting starts to disappear.
But here is the truth most people avoid: your creative edge is not lost. It is buried under noise, speed, and expectations that reward productivity over originality.
This month, consider this your pause. A recalibration. A reminder that creativity is not a luxury in business. It is the differentiator. It is the thing that makes people feel something when everything else blends together.
If your work has felt flat or formulaic lately, you are not failing. You are overdue to create some breathing room. A walk. A different environment. A conversation with someone completely outside your industry. A messy brainstorm without a deliverable attached.
Small shifts bring the spark back.
And once it is back, everything else gets sharper.
Let’s revive it.
Creativity Rituals That Actually Work
Most people think creativity shows up when it feels like it. In reality, it shows up when you create the right conditions for it.
Every team has rituals, but not all rituals are designed to unlock original thinking. Some routines keep you productive, but very few keep you imaginative.
If you have felt a little flat lately, you are not alone. Too much input, too many tabs open, too little quiet thinking. Creativity needs space, friction, curiosity and a bit of discipline. These rituals help you rebuild that muscle.
- Change the inputs:
If you are consuming the same creators, the same industries and the same five LinkedIn voices, your ideas will start to sound like everyone else’s. Add new sources. Read something outside your category. Walk a different trail. Ask a better question. The fastest way to get fresh ideas is to expose yourself to something unfamiliar.
- Give your brain contrast:
Your best ideas rarely show up when you are staring at your laptop. They happen in transition. In the shower. On a dog walk. In the car. Build real thinking time into your week. Ten minutes of intentional solitude will do more for your creativity than an hour of forcing it.
- Make creativity a standing meeting:
Creative work should not be a last minute Tuesday at 4 task. Block a recurring slot on your calendar labelled Thinking Time or Idea Lab. No notifications. No Slack. No small tasks. This one practice alone can separate reactive marketers from truly original ones.
- Tension creates clarity:
Invite a healthy creative debate into your process. Ask your team what does not feel bold enough. Challenge each other to push one idea ten percent further. Not everything needs to be reinvented, but everything can be sharpened.
Client Spotlight: Gourlay’s Clinic Pharmacy
Best of the Bow Winner, and Fully Deserved
Some victories are big, loud moments. Others are the quiet kind that come from years of doing things the right way. Gourlay’s Clinic Pharmacy just earned Best of the Bow, and if you know them, you know why.
In a world where everyone is shouting for attention, Gourlay’s stands out by doing what most brands won’t: leading with service, trust, and genuine care. No gimmicks. No shortcuts. Just a team that shows up for their community every single day.
From modernizing their digital presence to building consistent, credible messaging across platforms, the foundation they’ve invested in is paying off exactly the way strong foundations do.
Huge congratulations to the entire team at Gourlay’s. Their win is a reminder that creativity is not always loud. Sometimes it’s simply the courage to do things with integrity, clarity, and consistency.
Weekly Faves
Read, Watch, Listen
Read: Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
Watch: Abstract: The Art of Design on Netflix
Listen: Creative Pep Talk
Get Your Sh*t Together: Quit Multitasking
Multitasking is one of the biggest productivity myths we keep pretending works. Every time you jump between emails, Slack, a proposal, your phone, and whatever tab just started auto-playing sound, you’re not “doing more.” You’re fracturing your focus into useless little pieces.
Your brain is designed to do one meaningful thing at a time. Every switch costs you clarity, accuracy, and time you swear you don’t have.
The fix: build single-tasking sprints into your week.
Pick one strategic task, set a timer for 20 to 40 minutes, close the tabs that don’t matter, and stay with it. No bouncing. No “just checking.”
You’ll get more done in one sprint than you normally do in an hour of scattered effort.
Focus is a skill. Practice it, and it pays you back.
Meet Your Businesses New BFF
The wait is finally over.
A custom-built GPT trained on your brand voice, your strategy, and your way of doing business. It doesn’t replace your people, it supports them, speeds them up, and keeps everything on-brand.
Want the AI advantage without losing the human heartbeat of your brand? This is it.
“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.”
-Peter Drucker
