How to Improve Creativity by Adding Constraints

I’m in the business of facilitating interactive leadership experiences – workshops, group coaching programs, etc. Pre-pandemic if you’d asked me to deliver a program remotely, I’d have looked at you side-eyed. Impact without interaction? Couldn’t be done.

But when the pandemic hit, I was suddenly forced to figure it out. And the only way to do it was through massive creativity. I’m proud of – but not alone in – my craftiness. So many of us had no choice but to bring the impossible to life in 2020. Whether homeschooling your kids, working from a closet, or selling to clients you’d never met in person, every one of us has achieved something previously unimaginable.

So what’s the magic that unlocked our untapped stores of creativity? It’s the constraints that the pandemic forced upon us.

A constraint – a limitation or restriction – generally sounds like a bad thing. But sometimes when you’re struggling to get something figured out or over the finish line, a forced constraint is just the thing you need. We all have traditional patterns of thinking. But constraints force us to reimagine – challenging us to make new connections, to look at old things in new ways, and generally to be scrappy in our approach to solving problems.

So if you’re struggling to get something over the finish line and into the market, let’s talk about the different types of constraints you might help you get over the creative hump:

Time constraint

Let’s say you’ve got an idea you want to pitch to your boss – maybe it’s a new product or a new customer service strategy. This could be your big break. You want it to be perfect. And you’ve promised yourself as soon as it is, you’ll schedule that meeting with the boss.

So…the big news here is that perfection isn’t coming. Ever. And without a deadline – forced or otherwise – you’ll be polishing this thing until it becomes obsolete. What you need is not that final data set or a cleaner prototype, but a time constraint. Let your boss know you have an idea you’d like to pitch. Get the meeting scheduled. Now you have a finish line. Your task is to define “good enough,” find a way there, and stop.

Without a deadline – forced or otherwise – you’ll be polishing this thing until it becomes obsolete. What you need is not that final data set or a cleaner prototype, but a time constraint.

I remember building my first ever workshop. I designed it and was getting ready to sell it to a client. But I just needed to revise it first. And then again. And then again. Finally, I created a time constraint. I scheduled a bunch of pitch meetings and had no choice but to be ready for them. I made a simple checklist of...

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