Stuck? Become Unstuck by Limiting Yourself.

Over at Inc., business writer Suzanne Lucas explores what she learned by taking a class in improvisational comedy. Her main point is notable for being contrary to the now-conventional wisdom that creativity involves thinking "outside the box:"

Do something fun today entails any number of good, but different options, depending on which side of the fence you're on. (Image by Domenico Daniele, via Unsplash, license.)

"No limits" limits your creativity

"What's your favorite movie of all time?"

We all theoretically have a favorite movie, but your mind is likely to go blank whenever someone asks that question. It's as if you've never seen a movie in your whole life.

Now, let's put limits on that: "What's your favorite action movie?" or "What's your favorite movie musical?" or "What was your favorite movie you saw in high school?"

These limits make it easier to come up with your answer.

The same happens in improv. If we say, "Go up on the stage and say something funny," everyone freezes. But, instead, you pull ideas out of a hat or have the audience shout ideas, and now we say, "You are an archaeologist in Cleveland, and you run into your mother-in-law." [bold in original]

Yes. Tell someone to be funny -- or to do almost anything else creative with zero context -- and watch them freeze. We've all experienced this. Hell, I've even done this to myself: Write a column.

Without some idea of a starting point or an end product, it's too much of an ask.

I imagine that's a major source of writer's block: Whatever it is one wants to write, there is a gap, a lack of a starting point or a goal, and without one of those, there is no clear basis for action.

None of this is to say there's no place for Think outside the box. I believe that saying is a caution against accepting limits or conventions uncritically, or not looking hard enough for alternatives. That box is a bad one. The box that Lucas is talking about is inescapable, but it is liberating to know about: To be is to be something, and to do is to do something. Once you know what that something is, you start getting ideas and can have thoughts about execution.

-- CAV