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The Power of Constraints
What Dr. Seuss discovered through this little bet was the power of setting
constraints.
Setting limits for yourself — whether that involves the time you have to work
out, the money you have to start a business, or the number of words you can
use in a book — often delivers better results than “keeping your options open.”
In fact, Dr. Seuss found that setting some limits to work within was so useful
that he employed this strategy for other books as well. For example, The Cat in
the Hat was written using only a first-grade vocabulary list.
In my experience, I’ve seen that constraints can also provide benefits in health,
business, and life in general. I’ve noticed two reasons why this occurs.
1. Constraints inspire your creativity.
If you’re five foot five inches tall and you’re playing basketball, you figure out
more creative ways to score than the six foot five inch guy.
If you have a one-year-old child that takes up almost every minute of your day,
you figure out more creative ways to get some exercise.
If you’re a photographer and you show up to a shoot with just one lens, then
you figure out more creative ways to capture the beauty of your subject than
you would with all of your gear available.
Limitations drive you to figure out solutions. Your constraints inspire your