Constraint = Resource

I want to believe this, and sometimes I am able believe this, but I want to truly make it a part of my life, the way my family has made "It's a Design Problem" part of our every day, much for the better.

When something stops me in my tracks, I want to be able to leverage that "something" to catapult me in an even better direction, and as quickly as possible. As my mother would say, "What's between my ears" is what always stops me. I have a book called A Beautiful Constraint: How to Transform Your Limitations into Advantages to help with a step-by-step process.

I really like that subtitle. So I am starting this thread as a place to document not merely overcoming limitations but transforming perspectives on and actions due to limitations. I'd love to hear examples from people's lives (that's why I studied psychology--I love to hear about people's lives, and how they work to improve things!). Even if a constraint could be labelled as " extremely minor" (such as my upcoming week single-parenting because of...reasons...grrr...) I would like to explore with Permies how such things can be used as opportunities to get what us where we want instead of impeding us.

Contraint = Resource sounds very similar to: The problem is the solution.

Can't afford land in a major city, buy land in a smaller city, with a better climate, so I can grow for more months and with more land I can do better.
Area flood easily, I can put in a sand point well.
Can't afford to buy a house, build in stages and end up without a mortgage and with an interesting experience/story.

S Bengi wrote:Contraint = Resource sounds very similar to: The problem is the solution.

Can't afford land in a major city, buy land in a smaller city, with a better climate, so I can grow for more months and with more land I can do better.
Area flood easily, I can put in a sand point well.
Can't afford to buy a house, build in stages and end up without a mortgage and with an interesting experience/story.

You're right, they're the same idea. I love it/them intellectually--but it's hard for me to live them because I want what I want when I want it and just the way I want it. Once I can get unglued from that need to have it just my way, life gets better.

Your examples are excellent. Have done all those things?

I'm reminded on the one hand of this quote: "If a problem cannot be solved, enlarge it." - Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is literally the opposite, but highlights the issue. If you are limited by the scale of the problem (not enough of a thing, too expensive to run utilities to one rural farm, etc...) if you increase the thing (maybe if you can collect THE ENTIRE TOWN'S eggshells and coffee grounds, you have more than enough... or if many farms in a row all got utility hookups it would cost less per farm). What if we ALL recycled our cardboard boxes? then it makes sense to have one big truck drive around and pick them up on Tuesday rather than have everyone drive to the mill with a few boxes to drop off when they are able.

Now constrain the thing... Well, at least I don't have to collect the entire town's eggshells and coffee grounds! PHEW! That limit is liberating., instead it might be just your next door neighbor's and your own. If you only have room in your house for a sewing machine in the corner and use the dining room table between meals, then you might have a difficult time reupholstering furniture as a side gig. Your entire wardrobe isn't appropriate to wear to the office, not even on a casual Friday. That narrows it down, and means the swimsuits don't need to laundered and dry for Monday morning, so that can wait.

The constraints limit our choices. The resources could be time, space, money, focus. A budget is a constraint that saves a resource (money). A schedule is a constraint on our time. A shopping list is a constraint, focusing on the essential items to get, not wandering and browsing wasting time, making impulse purchases wasting money, considering the space in the freezer you can't get six pints of ice cream, only one (okay... two. you can put one away and just eat the other when you get home).

A mountain in your way is an opportunity to climb and see above the clouds.

I love this quote! Thank you for sharing.

Examples in my life include: For a few years I was housing-insecure. For most of my life I had always been able to find super cheap places to rent, which allowed me to engage in work I found fulfilling even though the work did not pay well.

but then the cheap apartments and other cheap rentals started to go away. I spent some years being very housing insecure, always worried that I might not be able to keep a roof over my head.

But I "enlarged the problem" by becoming a housing activist, pushing for more types of rental housing options.

Even after my circumstances changed and I was able to buy a house, I have never stopped being an activist for greater varieties of low-priced rental housing.

Certain options that always used to be part of the landscape, such as single room occupancy units and mobile home parks, have started disappearing, so I began being an advocate for re-introducing those types of housing. In many cases it's zoning and NIMBYism that keeps those options from being reintroduced.

Has my advocacy necessarily been effective? No immediate results in my city, but by "enlarging the problem" I joined a larger conversation, and tapped into a growing movement of people and resources. We will make a difference. People are already making a difference in some cities and towns.

If this topic interest you, you might like to check out the YIMBY movement. Yes In My Backyard.

Kenneth Elwell wrote:I'm reminded on the one hand of this quote: "If a problem cannot be solved, enlarge it." - Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Where do we draw the line?  This garbage economy is a big reason a lot of us are drawn to this stuff. I don't really like inflation, war, food scarcity etc, but I'm glad I learned about permaculture because of it