Categories
meta

Creativity and constraints

I’ve long held that creativity requires constraints. Putting these thoughts down.

You probably remember a handful people in your elementary, middle, and high school who were known as the “artists.” They were the ones who turned in the beautiful drawings, won the contests, got tapped for t-shirt designs, etc.

I was one of them. With the reputation of an artist came two common refrains. The first? “You’re so talented.” And the second: “You’re so creative.”

Both statements never fit for me.

Talent? My proficiency as an artist came from paying attention to detail, being willing to iterate my way to “right,” and being a perfectionist enough to keep going. It wasn’t talent; it was focused practice.

And I’ve never felt creative. In my mind, to be creative is to be able to imagine new things from nothing, which has never been easy for me.

I realized that I am creative so long as I have constraints.

Constraints create a problem to be solved. And by attempting to solved defined problems, working within limitations, I’d be creative. I liked being creative in this way and (maybe) am even good at it.

This realization made sense of creativity for me.

Constraints swap possibilities with clear challenges to overcome:

The creative person—the artist, the inventor, the entrepreneur—finds a novel way.

Sometimes we’re stuck because we’re not stuck enough.

One reply on “Creativity and constraints”

I was told something like this once. that “what do you do” is powerful. if its not its meddling with someone else.
using our resources and our tongues.
investing in the right people can inspire others to jump in front of you–holding by that same token some other organization
that will cause folks to run into burning buildings and save lives

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.