Working Within The Constraints.......

is not something we're used to because it creates a lot of discomfort. Constraints are traditionally seen as the problem. Constraints are deemed restrictive and confining - like you're wearing a jacket a couple sizes too small for you.

This is because we're pushing back against the constraints to try and control them. This ends up depleting the amount of space we have to work in. This also constrains our creativity. We end up trying to overcome the constraints as a solution to the problem.

However, this way the constraints are still there, except now we are working around them. Kinda like tip toeing around shattered glass to make sure that no shards get lodged into your bare feet. Our natural growth, development and progression is halted, reigned in and made smaller by our having to work around the constraint.

I would say that a better way to deal with a constraint would be to acknowledge its presence. Only by acknowledging the presence of the constraint can we begin to understand its nature. If we have the relevant knowledge of the constraints, we can begin to work from within them. And this is where the most unique and creative solutions to our problems come from.

Constraints shouldn't then be seen as something separate from the problem - something to be dodged like Ben Stiller dodging balls on Dodgeball. Instead of resisting the constraints and trying to push-back against them to get rid of them or control them, see if you can first acknowledge them, understand them, feel into them and embrace them.

Allow your ideas to grow organically out of the constraints that are preventing your business or life from moving forward in the direction you want. This will end up giving your life and work more definition, more meaning and much more fulfillment.

Ernie Schenck, the creative director and writer described working from within the constraint best when he said, "the biggest secret of productive creative people is that they embrace obstacles, they don’t run from them. In their minds every setback is an opportunity, every limitation is a chance. Where others see a wall, they see a doorway."