Stimulating Creativity With Constraints and Limits

While thinking about the bigger picture "is often used as a synonym for creativity, thinking" in-the-box "with the boundaries of time, money and other resources often helps the mind to concentrate and respond with innovative solutions for the problems. Composer Stephen Sondheim once said:

"If you ask me to write a song about the ocean, I'm baffled. But if you tell me to write a ballad about a woman in a red dress, the from her chair at three clock morning, I'm thrilled. "

Here are two examples of how you can use your creativity to rise by boundaries:

three units for a good tragedy

In an interview on "Heads up! on organizational innovation, creativity guru Roger from Oech explains that the existing restrictions innovator to think and focus more on the opportunities. As an example, he explains that he just completed a Roman Polanski's 1962 film entitled "Knife in the Water." One of the DVD's special features was an interview with Polanski and his screenwriter, in which both of them, that they forced themselves to keep up with Aristotle's "three units for a good tragedy:

All the actions carried out within 24 hours;
All action takes place in the same place, and
There are a limited number of characters

This made them think deeply about plot and character rather than cinematic shortcuts. That is, these three boundaries helped them a film much better than they would have together, she had not all the borders.

The Houdini Solution

Ernie Schenck is an advertising and creative director, and author of "The Houdini Solution." He argues that the best way to proceed with great ideas is not to think outside the box, but to believe in the box. He quotes psychologist and expert creativity Rollo May, as follows:

"Creativity requires limits for the creative act arises from the struggle of the people and against what boundaries are. "

Schenck argues that you do not need to wait," the muse "to appear or for your life circumstances change, but with the circumstances in which you currently find yourself, and use all the available parameters or limitations as a vehicle for your creative direction. He adds that by the time you finish reading "The Houdini Solution" you can use the following :

"The biggest secret of the truly productive creative people is that they are obstacles, they do not run from them. In their minds, any setback is an opportunity, any restriction is an opportunity. Where other wall, they see a door. "

One of the examples provided by Schenck, to his point is that of Jack White, guitarist and songwriter and the leader of the Grammy Award-winning rock band White Stripes. These are just some of Jack White's self-imposed restrictions :

* No computer.
* No digital recording technology.
* No bass guitars.
* No studio equipment invented after 1968.
* No clothing that is not red, white or black.

This forced captivity creative innovation and the results in the music, which is more centered on talent rather than on the technology.

Conclusion

How many of us waiting for something to happen or an obstacle to remove before they affect our creativity • Start with any restrictions in your life as a way to shape your creativity, rather than as an excuse for not starting. In fact, in order to more creativity begins with the next restriction, which can help to structure to your creativity.

Autor: Marelisa Fabrega Marelisa Fabrega
Level: Platinum
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., as well as a Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University ... ...

This article was written by Marelisa Fabrega. For more fabulous tips and resources on how to increase your creativity visit her squidoo lens, How to Be More Creative.

Added: April 13, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/