Constraints Only Help Creativity To A Point
Posted by Plish on December 22, 2008
We hear it all the time.
“Creativity thrives in constraints”
“We need to have boundaries to get the most out of creativity.”
Well…. Yes….
…and No.
Constraints = Stress
Stress only helps to a point. A gander at the Yerkes-Dodson curve shows when we get overstressed our performance trails off.
Yerkes-Dodson Curve Shows Optimum Stress for Optimum Results
Over stressed can be one of two things.
High Load Over a Short Time
A Small Load Over a Long Time
What can we do to optimize creative output?
Get used to dealing with situations that are constrained. This will change your stress threshold so that it takes more stress to make your performance decline. What types of things indicate that our productivity will start falling off?
Look for feelings of boredom, procrastination, frustration, anxiety and anger, to name a few.
Be careful though - Many (if not most) of us have a tendency to think we deal with stress better than we do.
Cortisol Levels and Sleeping, Stress and Creativity « ZenStorming - Where Science Meets Muse… said
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