This postNice post yesterday from Roger von Oech about deadlines:
Strict limits can be a powerful stimulant to the creative process. If you’ve ever been asked to solve a challenging problem with a small budget or a tight deadline, you’ve probably found that you were much more resourceful than if you had been granted a ton of money and time. As architect Frank Lloyd Wright repeatedly told his students, “Limits are an artist’s best friend.”
That’s because they force us to think beyond conventional solutions and find answers we might not otherwise have discovered.
It’s true: constraints = creativity. I’m always amazed at how much I can get done when I’m under a deadline. True, it’s stressful, but my productivity skyrockets.
The question is, can self-induced deadlines have the same power as those externally inflicted? I don’t know, but this year I’m going to find out. :)
