Last week I mentioned I’d recently read a fascinating article in the Financial Times about how creativity thrives with constraints. It articulated something I’ve been thinking about for years… that limiting yourself is actually the very best way to seriously flourish. So today, let’s talk about why doing fewer things better might be the most important focus you have for your creative business this year.
Creativity Thrives with Constraints
The Financial Times article “Creativity thrives with constraints” by Stephen Bush argues something that goes completely against what most of us have been taught. We tend to assume that more freedom equals better creativity. That the best work comes when there are no limits, no boundaries, no one telling you what you can and can’t do.
But what if that’s completely wrong?
What if creativity actually thrives within constraints? What if limitations sharpen your work rather than restrict it?
And here’s where it gets really interesting for creative business owners… this isn’t just about creative output. It’s about how you structure your entire business.
The Muppet Christmas Carol Story
The article opens with a brilliant example. Brian Henson directed The Muppet Christmas Carol, and in his original cut, there was this deeply emotional song called “When Love Is Gone.” Beautiful, moving, added real depth to the film.
Then Jeffrey Katzenberg from Disney watched it with test audiences, children… and noticed they were getting bored during this song. So he cut it.
As an adult watching the restored version, you might appreciate that emotional depth. But Katzenberg was right. The film worked better for its actual audience (children) without it.
This is the tension, isn’t it? The thing the creator loves versus what actually serves the audience best.
The director’s artistic instinct said keep it. The constraint (the commercial reality, the audience needs) said remove it. And the constrained version was actually better.
What This Means for Creative Businesses
You Need Constraints, Not Just Freedom
Many creative business owners operate on this assumption: if I just had more time, more resources, more freedom, I could create something amazing.
But what actually happens when there are no constraints?
You add more. You complicate things. You create sprawling offers that try to be everything to everyone. You expand rather than refine. You say yes to opportunities that come your way, you read something, you listen to something, an idea is sparked and suddenly you’re motivated to move in a different direction. Things become complicated, confusing and quickly pretty exhausting.
The article talks about director’s cuts that feel bloated. Franchise films that get stretched into multiple parts when one would have been sharper. Self-published writing that goes on forever because no editor is there to say “cut this.”
How many of us have:
- Services that keep expanding to include “a bit of everything”
- Portfolios that try to showcase every type of work we can do
- Websites that keep growing sections to appeal to more people
- Client processes that become more complicated with each project
- Offerings that blur together because we’re afraid to specialise
But constraints force clarity. When you have limits—on what you offer, on who you work with, on how you communicate—you’re forced to get really clear on what matters most.
Even Brilliant Creators Need Editors
The article makes this point beautifully: “Everyone, even the most successful of directors, benefits from strong editors and nervous producers.”
We have this romantic idea that genius creates alone. That if you’re really talented, you should be able to do it all yourself.
But that’s not how great work gets made.
Even Steven Spielberg has editors. Even the most celebrated directors work with producers who push back, who say “this doesn’t work,” who force them to refine.
Yet so many creative business owners are trying to do everything themselves. No one to say “that’s too complicated.” No one to push back on ideas. No one to help them cut what doesn’t serve.
The More Successful You Get, The More You Need Discipline
Once creators become really successful, people stop challenging them. And that’s often when their work becomes indulgent, bloated, less focused.
The discipline that helped them succeed in the first place? It disappears because no one dares push back anymore.
I see this in creative businesses too. You start to get traction, you gain confidence, and suddenly you’re adding things because you can, not because you should.
You stop asking “does this serve my audience?” and start asking “what else could I add?”
Success shouldn’t remove boundaries. It should reinforce them.
Three Principles for Constraint-Led Business
Limit to Strengthen
Instead of asking “what else can I add?” start asking “what can I remove?”
What if you offered fewer services but did them brilliantly? What if you specialised in one type of client instead of trying to serve everyone? What if you focused on one way of working that truly suits your strengths? What if you communicated one clear message instead of trying to appeal to multiple audiences?
Constraints aren’t limiting your potential. They’re focusing your brilliance.
When you try to do everything, you dilute what makes you exceptional. When you focus, you amplify it.
Get Someone Who Can Say “Cut That”
You need at least one person who is allowed to challenge your ideas. Someone who can say “that’s too much” or “that doesn’t serve your audience” or “you’re overcomplicating this.”
Not random internet opinion. Not everyone’s input. But one trusted person whose judgment you respect.
This could be a business coach, a strategic friend, a mentor. Someone who understands what you’re building but isn’t so close that they can’t see when you’re adding unnecessary complexity.
Because left to ourselves, we almost always add rather than subtract.
Focus Creates Space for Real Impact
Remember that Muppet Christmas Carol song? Creators loved it. Adults appreciated it. But it didn’t serve the actual audience.
How often are we doing the same thing in our businesses?
Creating services we think are impressive rather than impactful. Adding complexity because it feels more professional. Keeping things because we’re attached to them, not because they genuinely help our clients.
Think of your business as being for your clients, rather than for yourself. Always place your clients first and foremost.
When you’re laser focused, you have the space to be genuinely helpful. To really understand what your clients need. To create work that has phenomenal impact.
That’s where the incredible ideas live. That’s where real creativity happens.
Not in doing more things. In doing fewer things so well that they transform people’s businesses and lives.
My Own Experience
Last year, I focused on just one thing. One offer. The Base Notes. That was it.
And that singular focus? It allowed me to really understand what everyone needed. To deeply support everyone who joined the programme. To spend time genuinely understanding their businesses and offering the very best support I possibly could.
I wasn’t distracted by creating new things or launching multiple offers. I was completely focused on making that one experience as helpful as it could possibly be.
And that intense focus on understanding what my audience really needed became the foundation for everything else. All the learning from that year, all the patterns I noticed, all the transformations I witnessed… that formed the entire basis for the six-month programme I’m creating now.
I couldn’t have created that programme without that year of laser focus. Without that discipline of saying no to other opportunities so I could really go deep with the people I was supporting.
Because I want to become the most helpful that I can possibly be for creative businesses. If someone invests in my programme (their money, their time, their trust) I want to make absolutely sure it’s the very best investment they will ever make.
And to do that? I have to be laser focused.
This is where all the incredible ideas happen. This is where real creativity lives. Not in doing more, but in going deeper.
Your Next Step
Where are you trying to do too much?
Not where do you need to add more. Where could you remove something and actually strengthen what remains?
Maybe it’s narrowing who you work with so you can truly excel at serving them. Maybe it’s focusing on the one service where you’re genuinely exceptional. Maybe it’s simplifying your process so you can go deeper with each client. Maybe it’s removing the offerings that exhaust you rather than energise you. Maybe it’s getting clearer on your message so the right people can find you easily.
And focus is what allows you to become the most helpful you can possibly be. To create work that has real, lasting impact. To build a business that’s genuinely exceptional rather than just adequately covering everything.
What If
What if this is the year that creative business owners embrace constraint? The year we stop believing more is better and start trusting that less, done brilliantly, is what actually creates exceptional businesses?
What if this is the year you give yourself permission to do fewer things, but do them so well that everything changes?
That’s what I’m focusing on this year. And I’d love for you to join me in that.
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