“Creating Inside the Box” – 3 Steps to Setting Boundaries and Breaking Them

“We cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that got you there in the first place”

-          Albert Einstein

Creativity is fluidity, it flows and eddies as a river; meandering and eroding its natural path through the landscape in which we work. Subsequently, it’s hard to imagine a freedom of creativity that is set in a system of rules or a place of boundaries.

And yet, we must face boundaries in everyday life and there is not a creative pursuit in the world which is not bound to some kind of stricture… so how are we to produce the very essence of freedom, when constrained by rules?

More a form of measurement, less a doctrine

“The strongest tree in the forest is not the oak with its deep roots and hard wood, but

the Bamboo who can bend with the breeze and not break in the storm”

-          Unattributed

The environment in which you are playing or working is integral to the process of your creation. To set structures or petty requirements can seem counter-productive, but in terms of productivity it’s essential.

Suggestion: If you work as a team or as an individual, then decide as what your goals are and then focus on what will allow success, what will hinder success and, more importantly – what success will look like when you get there!

The Relentless Tick-Tock

I was told a couple of weeks ago that we are all in a society which is becoming increasingly money-rich, yet time-poor. This suggests that time will be an increasing increment on the creative process. So straight away we are all provided with a boundary over which we have no direct control.

Maybe your work is project and deadline based, maybe your creativity is outside of your regular source of income, and so restricted by the demands of that roll, perhaps this is a last minute opportunity and it’s “now or never”.

Suggestion: Decide what you want to achieve in the time set out then decide on the correct attitudes and actions which will bolster your creativity.

Raise the Praise

When caught up in the cycle of creativity, it’s so easy to lose track of what you’re doing, if it’s any good, why you’re doing this in the first place – in other words you can’t see the wood for the trees. This is where you need to go back to the goals you outlined in the first place and give a little moment to reflect on how you’ve achieved.

Suggestion: This is an ideal time for you to understand your own process. If you’ve only achieved half of what you intended in the given time, then perhaps you’ve underestimated the time it takes you to achieve those goals. This is always a good thing, it lets you understand just how much time you need to assign to your creative tasks in order to complete them to your satisfaction