“Psychologists have long understood that being faced with too many choices can make individuals less likely to choose anything at all.”
Dr. Hannah England, Decision Anxiety: how to make decisions when feeling anxious
Ocean of possibilities
When too many choices are presented, we can fall into indecision.
This paradoxical reaction has been labeled choice overload or The Paradox of Choice.
Creating defined perimeters for your work is a simple method for confronting choice overload. For creatives, these perimeters (sometimes labeled as limitations or constraints) seem like the opposite of what would lead to flourishing creativity, but without boundaries, there is an ocean of possibilities.
This is when choice overload may kick in.
As I’ve navigated my freelance career, I’ve found that boundaries that impact my work (the time allotted to a specific job, the length of a zine, or the gear I use) have helped create a defined space to channel my creative work.
Setting perimeters
These boundaries can set a defined space, time, or framework within which the project can be created. This channels creativity and allows the projects to culminate in a final work rather than ruminating on decisions for the next step.
For example, when working on personal travel photography projects, I’ve found creating zines effective in summarizing my experience and creating something tangible.
When making a zine, these are the perimeters I set before I start designing:
Page count
Page size
Word count (estimate)
Additionally, by creating a zine, I am allowing the work to have a life of its own. This makes me think about the notion of luck surface area.
Using limitations
Rather than seeing the limitations of page counts, technical aspects, or time on location, these remove decision-making and leave more space for creativity.
These simple (somewhat obvious) building blocks guide my project, setting a direction for my work to flow into.
In this first year of full-time freelance work, I have worked to remove my misunderstanding of limitations and realized they are guides to help me complete any creative endeavor.