6 Creative Cliff Illusion

Introduction to the Myth of Declining Creativity

Have you ever felt like your best ideas come at the beginning of a project? Or that your creativity fades the longer you work on something? If so, you’re not alone—and you’re likely experiencing what psychologists call the Creative Cliff Illusion.

The Creative Cliff Illusion is a cognitive bias that leads people to believe their creative abilities decline the longer they work on a task. In other words, we assume that we’re most creative at the start—and it’s all downhill from there.

But here’s the twist: research shows the opposite is true. Across many creative fields, there’s a familiar feeling: the belief that our best ideas appear early, and that as time passes, our creativity fades. This belief—known as the creative cliff illusion—is more than just a passing thought. It’s a psychological bias that influences how we approach creative work, whether we’re brainstorming ideas, solving problems, designing, or writing.

Creative Cliff Illusion is one of the many misnomers about creativity. Amidst all the misnomers, creative cliff illusion causes maximum harm and ironically is also the most easily fixable. For some unknown reason people have started believing that there are limits to their creativity. But recent research shows that this perception is fundamentally misaligned with reality. It’s like they think creativity is like an electric vehicle or a cell phone. Just how the electric vehicles have a limit for how far they can go with full charge, and cell phones have a limit to how many hours they will last on one charge. Creativity is different. Creativity is part of your true nature.

A series of eight studies in creativity research across the social sciences has revealed something striking: people consistently inaccurately predict the arc of their own creativity during ideation sessions. They expect their creativity to decline over time, even though, creativity tends to improve or persist with continued effort. This misunderstanding leads people to undervalue ideation itself, resulting in lower persistence and weaker creative performance. In short, the creative cliff illusion creates a false ceiling on our potential—one that research shows doesn’t actually exist.

Activity 1: Personal Reflection

Understanding Creative Cliff Illusion

Understanding the creative cliff illusion is essential not only for personal growth but also for improving creative performance in teams, classrooms, and organizations. This illusion is largely driven by a set of cognitive biases.

One such bias that fuels the creative cliff illusion is the availability heuristic. This cognitive shortcut leads us to judge the importance, quality, or frequency of something based on how easily it comes to mind. In creative work, early ideas often arrive quickly and effortlessly, making them feel more vivid and memorable. Because these initial thoughts are so easily accessible in our minds, we tend to assume they must also be the most valuable or original. This creates a skewed perception: early ideas feel like “the best” not because they are, but because they’re simply the first ones we remember.

This mental shortcut becomes especially misleading during long ideation sessions or creative projects. As we move forward, newer ideas often require more thought, iteration, and refinement, which can make them feel harder to recall or less exciting in the moment. But research shows that many of our most creative insights emerge later in the process—after we’ve pushed past the obvious and into more novel territory. The availability heuristic tricks us into giving undue weight to early contributions and can cause us to overlook or undervalue the deeper, more original ideas that emerge with time and effort. Becoming aware of this bias allows us to challenge it, encouraging us to stay in the creative process longer and explore beyond the first wave of inspiration.

Let’s look at an example to better understand availability heuristic. During a team brainstorming session for a new marketing campaign, the group quickly comes up with a catchy slogan in the first 10 minutes. Because it came up so fast and sparked initial excitement, the team assumes it’s the strongest idea and stops generating alternatives. A week later, when they revisit the slogan, they realize it’s too generic and lacks the emotional appeal they need. However, better ideas had been suggested later in the meeting—but because those were harder to recall and didn’t generate the same instant buzz, they were overlooked.

Another common bias that contributes to the creative cliff illusion is effort discounting—our tendency to undervalue ideas that take more time or mental energy to produce. When we’re brainstorming or developing a concept, the ideas that come quickly often feel more inspired simply because they required less effort. In contrast, the ideas that demand deep thinking, multiple revisions, or sustained problem-solving can feel laborious, and we may mistakenly assume they’re less creative or worthwhile. This bias causes us to equate ease with value, leading us to favor quick thoughts over more complex or refined contributions.

The danger of effort discounting is that it can lead us to abandon the very ideas that have the most potential. Truly innovative thinking often emerges from wrestling with ambiguity, experimenting with alternatives, or combining insights in new ways—all of which require time and persistence. By discounting ideas that take more work, we may miss out on the breakthroughs that only come through sustained effort. Recognizing this bias allows us to shift our mindset: instead of seeing hard-won ideas as inferior, we can begin to value them for the depth, originality, and clarity that comes from the effort invested in creating them.

A student working on a short story writes the first few pages in a single sitting. The writing flows easily, and they feel confident about the direction. Later, they struggle with the middle section of the plot, revising it several times. Because the writing didn’t come as effortlessly, they assume it’s weaker. However, when a peer reviews the story, they point out that the middle section contains the most emotionally resonant and original material. The student had undervalued it simply because it required more work. I hope this further explains effort discounting.

And finally, novelty bias is another subtle but powerful force that reinforces the creative cliff illusion. This bias causes us to overvalue the excitement and energy of initial ideas simply because they feel new and fresh. That early spark of inspiration can be thrilling, often accompanied by a sense of momentum or creative “flow.” As a result, we tend to give those early ideas more credit than they deserve—not necessarily because they’re better, but because they arrived during a moment of novelty. In contrast, as we move further into a project, ideas may feel less exciting—not because they lack value, but because the emotional high of discovery has faded.

This overemphasis on novelty can make us impatient with the creative process. When the initial buzz wears off, we may mistakenly believe the well of creativity has dried up. In reality, the ideas that come later—those developed through sustained thought, iteration, and deeper engagement—often carry more substance, originality, and relevance. Novelty bias can blind us to this, causing us to stop short or switch gears too early. By recognizing this bias, we can train ourselves to push through the initial wave of excitement and stay open to the insights that emerge later—ones that may not feel new but are often more meaningful and powerful. An example below might throw further light on it.

An app developer has a flash of inspiration for a new feature and begins working on it with enthusiasm. After a few days, the excitement fades as they dig into the technical details and encounter challenges. Even though the feature evolves into something more refined and useful, it no longer feels “new,” so the developer becomes discouraged and is tempted to abandon it in favor of a fresh idea. In doing so, they risk discarding a well-developed concept simply because it no longer carries that initial thrill.

It’s time to do an activity related to these biases. Which of these biases (Availability Heuristic, Effort Discounting, Novelty Bias) do you recognize in yourself?

Activity: Bias Spotting

Five Tips to Creative Cliff Illusion

I have already mentioned earlier that while creative cliff illusion causes most harm by eroding creative potential, it is also easily fixable. In this section, I will supply five tips that will help you overcome the illusion. You too can come up with your own hacks to dispel the creative cliff illusion. But these five will atleast get you started.

1) Don’t Stop

Far from falling off a cliff, creativity is more like climbing a staircase. The first few ideas might come quickly, but it’s the ideas that come later—after you’ve spent time with the problem—that tend to be more innovative, layered, and useful. The key is not to stop too early or at all. Many people exit the ideation process prematurely because they think they’ve run out of good ideas, when in reality they’re just getting started. this is due to their illusion about creativity having a cliff and inaccurate prediction of their creative proclivities.

The key to unlocking creativity is to not stop. Regardless of how challenging it might feel, you should persist. Our brain will keep presenting with resistance of different types through manipulating the chemical constitution. These chemical changes can and will often manifest as physiological symptoms such as headache, loss of appetite, nausea, an overwhelming feeling of being unwell, restlessness, and more. If this happens, then you have my permission to eat some chewy chocolate or even give crunchy snacks a go. Both these items are good for managing resistance and ultimately helping you in not stopping.

Activity: Paperclip Challenge

Set a timer for five minutes and come up with 35 unusual uses for a paperclip. The first few will be easy. Keep going even when it starts to feel hard—your most creative answers are likely to come toward the end. This exercise helps train your brain to push beyond initial ideas and into the zone where originality emerges.

2) Rhythm Tracking

A lot of people fall for the creative cliff illusion—the belief that their creativity starts high and drops off a cliff over time. But the truth is, creativity doesn’t just run out. It runs in rhythms. To really tap into your creative potential, start tracking your rhythm. Everyone’s got patterns—certain times of day, places, or activities that light a spark. When you know your flow, you can stop fighting it and start riding it.

It’s not about forcing inspiration; it’s about catching the wave when it naturally rolls in. Over time, you’ll learn to spot the signals—those little shifts in mood or energy—that tell you, this is the moment. Alex realized their brain lit up between 7–10 a.m., right after a brisk walk and coffee. So, they locked that time down for creative work. No emails. No meetings. Just pure output. The result? Better ideas, less burnout, and way more momentum.

Activity: Creativity Log

Over the course of your next project, keep a journal tracking when you feel most creative, where you are, what you’re doing, and whether you’re alone or with others. After a week, review your notes. What patterns emerge? How can you create conditions that better support your creative thinking?

3) Start Again

When your creativity stalls, it’s tempting to throw in the towel. But sometimes, all you need is a reset. A tiny shift—stepping outside, switching tools, or even changing the soundtrack—can jolt your brain out of its rut. Taking a short break can shift your perspective and reignite momentum. Creativity isn’t a straight line. It loops, pivots, and restarts. So, when the energy drops, don’t quit, simply pivot. Resetting isn’t failure; it’s strategy. Jasmin was stuck staring at the same paragraph for hours. Instead of forcing it, she grabbed her sketchpad and doodled outside for 15 minutes. That small reset sparked a new angle for her article—and she finished it in one focused burst. Mark hit a wall while editing a video project. Nothing looked right. So, he switched gears—opened a music app and started messing with beats for fun. Ten minutes in, a rhythm clicked that inspired a new cut for the video. Reset = breakthrough.

Activity: Creative Reset Drill

Work on a task with full focus for 15 minutes. Then step away—take a walk, listen to music, move your body. Return and work another 15 minutes. Reflect: Did new ideas emerge? Did your mindset shift? Resets can unlock new pathways that weren’t visible before.

4) Salad Bowl

Another strategy is to revisit and remix your previous ideas. Work you once set aside may now offer fresh opportunities. Sometimes, your best ideas are hidden in what you abandoned too soon—especially if the creative cliff illusion made you believe that you were incapable of exploring any further or coming up with any new ideas. Old notes, half-finished drafts, discarded sketches—they’re ingredients, not failures. When you mix them together, unexpected connections start to form. Abandoned pieces still carry potential—you just need to see them with fresh eyes. Lena was stuck on a new pitch, nothing felt original. Then she pulled out an old notebook full of random thoughts and scrapped ideas. Two unrelated notes—a line from a short story and a sketch of a product—clicked together and became the foundation of her new concept

Activity: Remix Challenge

Pick a past project—an essay, a design, an idea you gave up on. Re-read it or look at it again. What can you use, change, or expand? What new ideas arise when you revisit the old with fresh insight?

5) Rigging Predictions

On a larger scale, this misprediction of creativity has broad implications. In organizations, it leads teams to undervalue prolonged ideation and prematurely end brainstorming sessions. In schools, students are often rewarded for first drafts instead of final revisions, reinforcing the idea that creative energy is front-loaded. In personal projects, people abandon long-term goals, thinking they’ve already peaked. But recognizing that creativity doesn’t decline—it evolves—can help us stay engaged and push further, both individually and collectively.

The cognitive biases don’t just affect individuals—it shapes how entire systems think about creativity. In companies, it shortens brainstorming sessions under the false belief that the best ideas come early. In classrooms, it rewards quick answers over deep iteration. Personally, it convinces us to drop long-term projects because we think we’ve already done our best work. But this is a rigged prediction. Creativity doesn’t fade—it builds, deepens, and refines over time.

To overcome this illusion, we can rig our predictions differently. Assume that your best work will emerge later, not sooner. Design systems—whether personal routines or team workflows—that leave space for second drafts, return visits, slow growth, and rework. Normalize the idea that the first round is just the warm-up. Schedule check-ins after the initial buzz fades. Treat early output as raw material, not final product. This mindset shifts how we value time, patience, and persistence in the creative process. A design team at a startup scrapped a campaign after one brainstorming session, convinced they’d hit their creative peak. A month later, one team member revisited the discarded sketches and reworked the concept. That version became their most successful launch yet. By assuming that the best idea might come later, they changed the rules—and proved the illusion wrong.

Activity: Climb Your Own Creative Staircase

Choose a real or imagined project and divide it into three stages:

1. 1. Start – Brainstorm freely and generate as many ideas as possible.
   2. Middle – Revisit ideas, explore variations, and push through uncertainty.
   3. End – Refine, remix, and elevate your strongest insights.
      As you go, journal how your creativity feels at each stage. When do your best ideas appear? Does your thinking improve with time and persistence?

Conclusion

In conclusion, the creative cliff illusion is a powerful—and misleading—story we tell ourselves. But science tells a different story: creativity is not a spark that fades, but an innate capacity that persists and improves with continued engagement. By recognizing the cognitive biases behind this illusion, and using strategies to overcome it, we can reclaim the full arc of our creative potential. Whether you’re an artist, educator, entrepreneur, or student, the message is the same: keep going. You haven’t run out of ideas—you’ve only just started to discover them.