The Joys of (Creative) Constraint
You can enhance your creative output by choosing to set certain limits.
Posted March 25, 2026 | Reviewed by Devon Frye
When I interviewed dozens of successful writers for a book , I discovered that many of them experience anxiety or fear related to writing. Some of those feelings may be a result of needing to satisfy so many "requirements" at once. (That’s even true for bloggers.) You want to create work that pleases yourself as well as your editor and future readers, but how can you ever know if you’re choosing the right words out of all the hundreds of thousands available?
Happily, some writers have figured out ways to make use of self-imposed constraints to write better and, paradoxically, with more ease and less self-torture.
Consider the following strategies.
How to Set Your Own Limits to Allay Writing Anxiety
I can’t recall where I read this, and I don’t think it would be practical for many of us, but Victor Hugo supposedly would write naked and tell his valet to hide his clothes so that he’d be unable to go outside when he was supposed to be writing. Now, that's dedication.
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Susan K. Perry, Ph.D. , is a social psychologist and author. Her current focus is on the creative aspects of rationality and atheism.
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.