Michelangelo carved David from a reject marble block.
Smart builders set tight constraints, not bigger goals.
As creatives, setting constraints can free you up to do your most creative work.
They ask you to step up to the challenge of working within limitations.
🟢 Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham on a bet that he couldn't do it in 50 words.
🛸 George Lucas invented Star Wars because he couldn't get the rights to Flash Gordon.
🎨 Michelangelo had to paint before the fresco medium dried in the Sistine Chapel.
Three constraint ideas you can use today:
1/ Write the press release first
Jump a year ahead. Write the press release you'd want to send when it ships. That's your bounding box.
2/ Pitch three, not one
Pixar's rule: never pitch a single idea. Always pitch three. Your first idea is almost never your best idea.
3/ Cook with three ingredients
If you can cook any meal, you'll cook something you already know. If you can only cook with three ingredients, you'll invent something new.
Constraints feel like the enemy of creativity.
They're the engine of it.
Without them, you explore.
With them, you ship.
One of my constraints in half-year two is fear!
If I'm afraid to do it, then I NEED to do it.
If it doesn't scare me, I don't do it.
That's why I have some big goals to be putting more amazing products in front of my audience.
https://tinyurl.com/27ue8jyz