In an earlier episode, we talked about how constraints guide your creative work. To refresh your memory, constraints are the boundaries that are placed on a product. Constraints are how we ensure that our creative work is not just unique, but useful as well. When we correctly define our constraints, we understand the full scope of the problem. We’re about to say, if I do X, Y, and Z, I should be able to create a product that will be useful to others.

Many of those constraints come from the outside world. These external constraints are things like manufacturing costs and limited technology. They’re forced upon you from the outside world.

Figuring out the appropriate constraints to place on yourself isn’t an easy task. In fact, the most important constraint in creativity doesn’t come from the outside world at all… it comes from you. It comes from your beliefs, your values, and your assumptions.

Before you put your idea out there, the only thing you can do is take a best guess at what will work. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream could come up with a flavor called “____” and despite the odds, it might become a success. We just don’t know because before you actually test it out, everything is a best guess. There are only varying degrees of certainty.

This is why defining your constraints can be so difficult. We want to create things that clearly belong in our industry, but we want them to stand out, as well. This is a contradiction. I want to be similar enough to everyone else that my customers understand what I do, but I want to be different enough to stand out from my competitors in a significant, meaningful way. Whether they’re conscious or subconscious beliefs, they determine what actions you take. They are significant constraints on your creativity.

As your creating today, remember that your beliefs, values, and assumptions are powerfully shaping the constraints that you’re putting on yourself. They often come in the form of phrases like “I can’t do that because…” How you respond to that thought will determine what action you take and where you end up. Of course, there’s no easy answer to which constraints should be accepted and which should be rejected. Each constraint is unique. What’s important is that we recognize when we are placing constraints on ourselves so that we can ensure that the way we’re defining the problem has the great chance at leading us to success.

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