“Imagine you are about to be dropped off on a deserted island and you can bring only one object, what would you choose?” … is the opening prompt for a classic creativity challenge. There are numerous variations of it, each depending on the context of the exercise. Sometimes participants can choose more than one item, sometimes there is a list of specific items to choose from. The objective can be to live on the island, to escape from the island, or to get help from the outside. It can be an individual assignment where you are competing against each other, or it can be a group exercise where you have to work together based on other participants' choices.
I refer to all of these types of exercises as a process of “Planting Limits”, which is one of the 10 Creative Strategies that I describe in my book on how to approach solving design problems. Simply put, the strategy encompasses working with as little resources as possible to help the brain imagine what else could be done with what actually is available instead of having the misleading perception that perhaps, the solution could be ordered online. It is the ultimate MacGyver challenge, and it is one of my personal favorite strategies when I am designing.
A small pause for clarification and personal admiration: My children have pointed out to me, numerous times, that no one knows who MacGyver is. So here it is, mostly for them, because you, of course, know who he is: MacGyver is a TV character from a previous era who is continuously confronted with challenges that he solves ingeniously using only the objects that he has around him, including his Swiss Army knife. And it is the cleverness of how he uses the tools and artifacts available that makes him one of my personal fictional heroes. In the creative process, I challenge myself in the same way: How can I use the tools and artifacts that I already have in new and innovative ways to solve a design challenge? As I quickly reach the end of the predictable solutions, my mind starts to discover the unobvious, leading me down new paths that were previously obstructed from my view.
For executive workshops that I teach, I have developed a version of my Planting Limits exercise where participants are given a FedEx box with specific supplies. It is an homage to the movie “Castaway” starring Tom Hanks and a volleyball named “Wilson”. In that movie, the main character (played by Tom Hanks) crash-lands on a small island with nothing but a bunch of FedEx boxes that his plane was carrying. As he tries to make sense of his new situation, he discovers certain elements in each of the boxes, some useful and some not, that he can utilize in his quest for survival.
I use this concept to set up the exercise as part of my creativity workshops. Unlike the movie, each group receives a box with identical supplies, and teams are challenged to solve a design problem in a way that differs from the other teams. Here, too, I develop custom variations depending on the context of the group, but the underlying essence remains the same: What could you create using only what you have?
And so with a wink of serendipity, I am currently writing this from an island in the southern sea of Japan named Yakushima. It is actually here where I started writing my “Creative Strategies” book, many moons ago. It is not a deserted island at all; it has a few towns and even a miniature airport. However, that airport, together with the two harbors that provide transportation to the mainland, are about to be closed temporarily as not one, but two typhoons are saying “hello” nearby. They will pass in a few days, but until then, they will cause high winds, high swells, and torrential rains, possibly keeping us indoors. It made me wonder how I might want to spend the next 48 to 72 hours on a “deserted” island?
The way I see it, I have a choice to either consume or create. Consumption can be physical, as in going to a coffee shop and having a tasty beverage with perhaps a Japanese pastry. There are not a lot of stores on the island (other than souvenir shops), and certainly nothing like a covered mall to spend the afternoon. The grocery stores are already emptied, and there is a limit as to how many matcha flavored snacks one can try out (I had to practice “planting limits” on this one as well).
Consumption could of course also be done digitally, like reading a book or learning Japanese, two of the activities our daughters are currently engaging in. I have felt tempted to pick up my digital device as so many adults do when even faintly confronted with the possibility of being bored. And yet, boredom is such a gift that I think it is too often thought of as being negative and to be avoided at all costs.
To me, boredom has this threshold of being a gateway to unlimited creativity, but it is a treacherous route that is heavily guarded by digital forces. When our kids were younger, we would provide ample situations where they would get increasingly more bored - and subsequently increasingly more squeamish, almost to the point where we as parents couldn’t take it anymore. The temptation was always to hand them a digital device, but we learned that resisting that path would ultimately flip a switch in them, one where they would turn into creators and start on a journey of endless possibilities.
And now here I am enjoying the irony of being a student in my own class, finding myself on a (not entirely) deserted island with time to spend while the storms pass. Resources are limited and we might stay indoors. So I asked myself: “If I could pack a FedEx box for this challenge, what would I put into it? What magical artifacts could help with passing time creatively in a meaningful way? What is the ultimate tool to use once boredom kicks in?”
I thought about how incredibly powerful current digital technology has become and also how ridiculously addictive algorithms are designed to be. I could spend the next three days consuming digital content and never reach the bottom of it, but it would probably leave me feeling emptier, lonelier, and depressed. I would also need to rely on available signal strength and electricity, both of which are not reliable in this situation.
Hence, if there were one thing (two actually) that I would put in a FedEx box to take on to a deserted island, it would be a pen and notebook, the ultimate creator tools! I thought about adding a bag so that I could carry the notebook around as I explore the island, but as soon as I pictured that scenario, I realized I could turn the FedEx box into a bag…! And this is what happens when you plant limits - the mind finds new ways of feeling engaged and creative. It is why I value working with the strategy of “Planting Limits” so much.
The notebook would be A5 size, dot grid, with a flat binding so that it can be used as a larger canvas, and the pen would be a mechanical pencil (needs no sharpening and lasts long). With these two items, I can create. And as long as I have paper, I can continue that process indefinitely. What is more, I feel physically better when I create (using analogue tools) instead of consuming digital content. My mind feels challenged instead of numbed, and the results leave me feeling contemplative instead of drained.
I like this idea of being able to imagine that which does not exist yet. For me, it is a sketch, for my friends it is often words, but also sounds, images, colors, flavors, artifacts, visuals, spaces, and even feelings, all fall into this field of creating possibilities. Best yet, both the process of creativity and the resulting artifacts can be shared with others, which makes this deserted island feel much less so. It is perhaps the original form of social media, when it was analogue and shared in person.
Coincidentally, as a family, we have scheduled to teach two analogue workshops while being on this island, and both will be happening during the time of the typhoons passing. Coco will teach felting, and I will teach drawing. I do not have much command of the language yet, so there is the ultimate “Planting Limits” for myself: How to communicate without the use of words? Or maybe it should be: “How to teach without teaching?” I’ll soon find out!
Happy Creating!
Frido
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