damn straight christianity - mother natures cure - cept it doesn't always "help" to solve blocks - nature doesn't always help / and it's not always a good idea to use diversionary tactics on a phenomenon of the mind developed thru long evolution... maybe a block is a survival reflex?
what if the concept you're milking is already spent and pop-culture is over-saturated with samey results.... then a block would be telling you to drop it and head back to the flux for originality again =)
some blocks should be there - the mind, in it's own infinite wisdom, knows itself better than any conscious efforts can reveal - has it's own agenda - and yet we are often at cross-purposes with our own machine of inspiration... treating our own mind like a convenience store we can go get junkfood from anytime we like... the mind's saying HEY! stop all that high-fat high-sugar flavour137 diet of obvious mainstream and go get a little pure natural organic mother nature in you - top shelf... take in some gourmet subtleties - nourish the soul - go bush - time out from straight lines and one way streets.......... and when you come back the answer could be to just let it go / let it be =) zen

i like to let ideas percolate / several at once - for weeks and weeks - constantly harvesting the results / encouraging cross-pollination - encouraging random inputs - exercising the less-used senses / doing tests and learning from mistakes (heaps of mistakes is a good sign to me) getting it right is no challenge to what i already know - no risk is no growth = may as well be sleepwalking .. leads to draining of colour / despondency / samey-ness / cliche / self-referential feedback loops... and ultimately A BLOCK

Correspondence is another goodie, I find the obligation to reply more motivating than keeping up a diary.

//dont smoke a fat one.

smoke a racehorse

//dont smoke a fat one.

smoke a race horse

that's good advice dust,
dealing with the whole psychological aspect
i like it

yeah it's great
but you feel left out in conversations

hmm, well talking about TV is worse than watching it.

//finish it

top notch advice

cool. i like these bits:

> Basically I believe you have to get ugly ideas out first.

> you might be under-estimating the momentum your mind has (in terms of the creative process). It moves on without you

done

yeah you're right...

must remember: generalising is for fools.

I haven't watched TV for about a year and a half, barring the occasional programme at a friend's place.

How's it supposed to change things, creativity wise?

How do you keep going with something when you're not sure you want the end product?
How do you know when to stop believing your own bullshit?
How do you know you should keep on with something when everyone you'd normally listen to doesn't have any faith in the project?
How do you get faith in your own work to start with?

...er, I'll go have my crisis over there now.

//How do you keep going with something when you're not sure you want the end product?
Thats called commercial design. Personal work is all about loving the end product so this question is only about commercial 'commissioned' work. Think like the intended audience. Deliver the product they want. You shouldn't be emotionally attached to the work - you don't count - you are an invisible whore for the client.

//How do you know when to stop believing your own bullshit?
Stop smoking the spliff. Or... Dont listen to bullshit. Only listen to things that resonate. Truth rises to the surface. Bullshit sinks. But watch out for small floaters with corn.

//How do you know you should keep on with something when everyone you'd normally listen to doesn't have any faith in the project?
Dont listen to other people. Especially in the midst of process. They're not doing the work.

//How do you get faith in your own work to start with?
Practice breeds confidence, confidence breeds faith. Faith gets you thru the bad times which follow not long after the good times.

spotathon!

//How do you keep going with something when you're not sure you want the end product?

finish it, a finished failure will teach you more than an unfinished uncertainty

//How do you know when to stop believing your own bullshit?

always believe in your self

//How do you know you should keep on with something when everyone you'd normally listen to doesn't have any faith in the project?

continue, we grow and learn more from our mistakes failures than our successes

//How do you get faith in your own work to start with?

don't smoke weed

//finish it

extremely top notch advice

Thanks dust, will edit and print for future reference. Do you ever get sick of the game? Because a large part of the industry (from what I've seen) is fake...I will send you the stuff I did earlier this year (which I meant to post you weeks ago, shocking) and I'd like your opinion on the essay. It was sweet fuck all really but they loved it.
That's where "when do you stop believing in your own bullshit" came in, and I guess where the invisi-whore thing applies. You hate something you've done and belive it has no truth in it (as a result you feel you've left any possible integrity far behind) but the powers-that-be/the masses think it's fantastic and you should follow that path? What then? Be fooled into believing something you made up as a joke?
Any suggested reading on integrity in Design? Does it really have more than a small place in the world? Should I give up looking for it early if I want to succeed at all?

Nothing personal but I really disagree with this.

I enjoy the harry humour as much as the next stoner, but its a childish response to the question posed in the topic (serious or not). I hate to say it but its irresponsible. harry can be part of things but not the first port of call, ya know? For advanced users only, you dig?