Saturday, June 28, 2014

Creativity - Using Constraints

There is a way to boost creativity that is counter intuitive. Here it is: you can increase creativity by increasing constraints. A famous example of this is Dr. Seuss and "Green Eggs and Ham". Dr. Seuss wrote "Green Eggs" on a bet that he could not write an entertaining children's book using 50 words or less. Not only did Dr. Seuss win the bet, but he went on to sell millions and millions of books based on using constraints. So how do you create constraints? Here are some suggestions:

* Limit the size in some way
* Limit the time in some way
* Limit the budget in some way
* Limit those involved in some way
* Limit the materials you can use
* Limit… well, you get the idea

I am using this very technique to see what I can come up with in blogging. I limited myself to only using a Chromebook and free applications. So far I have done well. Are you involved in some creative endeavor? Maybe you can impose some limits in order to help you come up with some very creative solutions or ideas? It worked for Dr. Seuss!

What do you think?

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