Sure, allowing yourself peace & quiet or keeping your mind & body healthy is an important part of being a creative person. But:

Removing every barrier to your “great idea” will only repel it.

Constraints and limitations force us to rethink assumptions and reconsider the status quo. Identifying the actual constraints of a problem help us to generate ideas that might otherwise stay hidden by vast possibility. Invented constraints push us beyond “next step” and into “next paradigm.”

Constraints push us to the edges of what is possible. Into the improbable. Maybe even the impossible.

What constraints can you adopt to push your business and your creative thinking to the edges?

Here’s some big ones on my list – add your own ideas in the comments below:

1. Time – What if you had to execute an idea in 3 hours? 3 years?
2. Money – What if you had a $10 budget? $10,000 budget?
3. Personality – What if your project was serious? lighthearted?
4. Mechanism – What if your product was completely digital? physical? live? pre-recorded?
5. Materials – What if you design had to be made with paper? metal? cloth? recycled glass?
6. Teamwork – What if your idea had a team of 10? 100? 1?

The possibilities are endless.

What constraints are you working with right now? What constraints are confusing you right now? Leave your response in the comments below.

***
PS Group coaching kicks off again November 3. Want a framework for product development, decision-making, and marketing? Want to connect your creativity & intuition with the very foundations of your business? This is 5 weeks of collaborative experience you won’t want to miss. Click here to join me.

Think you can’t? You won’t.

What separates you from those who succeed is not a staggering difference in ability; it’s the know-how to set aside uncertainty and embrace personal power.

What outside influences are you allowing to have sway over your ability to commit to your creative impulses?

What past experiences are holding you hostage?

Are you directing your inner monologue to keep you offstage?

You can’t hide when your business is powered by the “thing” you love.

Passion-driven businesses are built on the awareness of their own fanaticism.

Customers are attracted to the power you draw out of your own enthusiasm. Friends, too.

And when you’re comfortable with your own zealous tendencies, you’re more comfortable creating.

Create more: stories, branding, content, service, products, opportunities, relationships, wealth.

Personal power fuels your creative power.

It’s a beautiful cycle.

i wanted to write here tonight but my brain is physically and emotionally fried after this weekend. so, like i do when i need any sort of help, i asked the twitterverse what i should write about!

by the way, twitter is quickly usurping google for me as the go-to place for answers. that’s right, if i follow you on twitter, that means you’re better than google.

anyhow, lisa {milkshake} suggested that i write about how i get all of this done with a little one at home. and i quickly replied that necessity is the mother of invention and all that… and how really my life is a mess and i just do and do and do until it’s done – even though it’s never done. and that that’s not really something i feel i can write about since i don’t have a good system or any tips.

but that’s a cop out.

while i hope this blog is very helpful to you in many ways, it’s not a biz tips blog or a self-help blog – this is my personal blog. if my life’s a mess, you might like to know.

so, yeah, my life’s a mess. but it’s also better than it’s ever been before. note to self: when you have the ability to ask 2,000 people what they’d like to read about you, your life, or your work – you’ve got it good. i get a lot done – most of which happens between 6am and 11pm, in between feeding, entertaining, changing, loving, cuddling, and kissing an 18 month old.

right now, i’m in a creative gold rush. “flow” i think i heard it called a few weeks ago. i’m in the middle of a glut of good ideas and i’m able to pump them out with a lot of will power and the desire to never work for “the man” again. i’m not trying to make myself sound too amazing, it’s just the way i work. i will work from sun up to sun down, and well after, if it means living the life i want and expressing myself fully – whether that’s writing, philosophy, or code.

in elementary school, i skipped 6th grade. 5th grade was a year of “flow” – i remember it quite distinctly. every ounce of me poured into learning & creating. i have that same feeling now – and it’s last for 13 months now. i think that’s thanks to lola.

so yeah, it’s all thanks to lola.