I unlocked peak creativity

Most people believe creativity can’t be forced or scheduled.

They lie to themselves and say, “I have to be in a creative mood in order to produce original ideas. I just don’t have it today. Etc. Etc.”

I used to believe this too.

But over the last 6 months, I’ve figured out a way to access creativity on tap.

And this has unlocked essentially endless creativity (which of course has had a massive positive impact on my business).

I’ll cut to the chase. The secret to unlimited creativity…is adding creative constraints.

Your lack of creativity isn’t from a lack of ideas. It’s from a lack of simplicity in your creative process.

Let me explain…

When your production process is full of too many mini creative decisions, it wastes all of your creative juice on the wrong things.

In the content game, this shows up in a big way.

Every piece of content can be broken down into the following lego bricks…

• Topic - what do I talk about?

• Angle/Substance - what do I say?

• Format - how do I say it

• Hook - how do I start it?

• Visual Layout - how do I show it?

Most people spend their creative energy trying to solve all five.

That means only 20% of your best thinking is being spent on the thing that drives 90% of the results (the angle/substance).

Instead, here’s what I do:

• Topics - I use Sandcastles to tell me the topics that are performing best so I don’t have to think about it

• Formats - I pick the same 3 formats for all of my videos.

• Hooks - I use the same 5 hook structures for all of my videos (based on which fits best with the angle I chose)

• Visual Layouts - I use the same visual layout in all of my videos. If I have to get out of my desk chair to make the video, I won’t make it.

What this does is allow me to focus all of my creative energy on the one thing that matters most…coming up with something interesting to say.

By removing the question mark around the other elements, it trains my brain to only think about angles & substance.

Over time, when all you think about is one thing, your natural baseline for coming up with “outside-the-box” ideas shifts higher and higher.

I apply this same approach, ruthlessly adding creative constraints, to all areas of life where creativity is required.

This has been one of the most effective unlocks for me.

If you’re struggling to lock-in the right formats and visual layouts for your niche, the easiest way is to use top examples as references. Pick one, mirror it, and if you like making it, you’re set.

To solve for this, I built out dozens of Collections with top video examples for 22 format types and 30 different visual styles here.

PS - If you want to work with me 1:1 to scale your personal brand, comment “Scale” (limited spots left).