Solve Anything in 50 Words (Or Less)
David Epstein was sitting across from me again.
The last time we met was 2019, above a comedy club.
He had just written Range and showed why the late starters, the switchers, the people who can't sit still in one field, are the ones who eventually win big.
Now he just came back on my podcast to talk about his new book, Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better.
In this one, he proved something I'd suspected for years…
That freedom is overrated and limitations are underrated.
The Green Eggs and Ham Model
Dr. Seuss couldn't write Cat in the Hat until his publisher bet him he couldn't write a book using only 50 words.
That became Green Eggs and Ham.
Psychologists call this the Green Eggs and Ham model of creativity. The best way to make someone creative is to restrict their normal means of doing something.
But everything is creative. Solving problems. Building a business. Picking a school for your kid. Writing an email you've been avoiding for three weeks.
Every one of them is a blank page in disguise.
And every one of them gets easier the second you stop giving yourself room.
My best writing has always come from constraints. The 600-word essay. The five-minute set. The deadline.
Unlimited time gives me garbage. Unlimited canvas gives me nothing.
Pixar’s Secret to Success
David told me about General Magic.
In 1989 their CEO drew a thin glass rectangle in a notebook. No buttons. Touchscreen. Apps.
He called it the Pocket Crystal.
He saw the iPhone—18 years early.
General Magic had unlimited money. Unlimited talent. Total freedom. They went public in the first concept IPO in Silicon Valley history—no product, no revenue.
They built nothing useful. Every idea got chased. Total freedom led to total incoherence.
Had they picked one thing and built it, maybe the headlines would be talking about them instead of Apple.
Pixar was the opposite. I thought it was unfettered imagination. It was the opposite.
David told me it had rules:
- The three-pitches rule—directors had to pitch three ideas because they always got attached to the first
- Tiny teams stayed tiny for years before scaling
- Every story followed the hero's journey
I asked him what constraints actually do to the brain. His answer: the brain is designed to do the easy thing.
Cognitive scientists call it the path of least resistance. Thinking is expensive. Give yourself a blank page and your brain reaches for the most repetitive option available.
Block the convenient solution. That's the whole trick.
What I'm Doing Now
When I asked David how to actually use this, he said: don't start with a blank page.
Start with one very specific question. "Why does tungsten use the symbol W?" beats "I want to write about chemistry" every time.
He calls it idea linking. The narrow puzzle pulls you somewhere the blank page never could.
Three things I'm taking away to solve any problem:
- Cut your own time in half. Tell yourself the deadline is Friday, not next month. Watch what comes out.
- Pick one specific question. "Why is revenue down in Tuesday's numbers?" beats "How do we grow?" every time.
- Before you open ChatGPT, write down your guess. You'll be closer than you think.
David's new book is Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better. Read it.
The inspiration was never going to come from the blank page. The constraint was the inspiration the whole time.
Read the book. But before you do, listen to the podcast.
It’s one of my favorites of the year.
