Limited Resources: This Is What Makes Innovation

Most Impactful Sentences

• Time is the most precious.

• Saying “yes” to spend your time on something means saying “no” to every single other way that time could be allocated.

• Limitations push you to think outside the box for a solution.

• The less time, money, or energy you have, the better use you’ll make of that time, money, or energy.

Limitations and constraints are beneficial. They test you. You won’t always have all the ingredients to grab. Limited resources—time, money, and energy—place you under conditions to make-do with what you have. Constraints do so by choice—budgeting, time allocation, scheduling. Whether forced by circumstance or by oneself, these apparent negatives become positives with the right mindset.

What’s Limited?

Limitations and constraints can broadly be split into the big three: time, money, and energy. Termed the big three, since they encompass all modern human endeavors as we know them today. Time is the most precious. Followed by energy. Why? Time can’t be earned, made, sold, or otherwise manipulated. It can only be allocated. Energy can be hired. Money can be earned, saved, and invested. Its the most flexible, easiest to attain and use, and thus gets the third spot.

Time limits are the hardest to navigate. When a schedule is given to you, your opportunities evaporate. Understand: an hour at work means an hour nowhere else. Saying “yes” to spend your time on something means saying “no” to every single other way that time could be allocated. You simply cannot learn, work, cook, hang out, eat, drink, exercise, meditate, sculpt, write, and binge TV shows simultaneously. For better or worse, there is one you. One you has one timeline. A timeline is enough for so many things.

In Terms Of Ease…

Energy is second in terms of difficulty. When a task comes up, you do it. A direct investment of energy. You can also sell your energy to someone else. They compensate with money. Popular when you have expertise or tools they lack. That’s called employment. Getting a job. And, you might hire someone’s time and energy to get something done. You do this because you can’t—and shouldn’t—do everything yourself. So you find talent, pay for the service, and both of you win. We have been shuffling energy this way since the dawn of civilization.

Money is by far the easiest. Where you place your capital determines how much you will have in the future. It can be manipulated in infinite ways. Effectively using money to hire energy for the creation and distribution of a valuable product or service is called business. Lending money out to a company for them to use it effectively and pay you a percentage is called investing. Money is a numbers game. Before money, we traded material goods and energy based on their cost and benefit—or value—to us. Coin and paper systemized the exchange.

Time To Think—Think Extra Hard

Being forced to buy a good pair of shoes for two-hundred bucks is a challenge. Whether the two-hundred is a budget set by you—a constraint—or your wallet does not have more—a limitation. The benefits scale with the difficulty. Two-hundred is one thing. Easy. Try fifty. Not so simple. Might have to search the used market or dig catalogues for sales. That’s where the magic is: what if you do find high-quality shoes for fifty dollars? Your budget forces you to explore the unexplored in quest of cheap, quality shoes.

The same is true for every domain and limitation. The less time you have to do something, the more effort you’ll put in. The less energy is available to you, the more you’ll try to efficiently allocate that energy. The less money you have to spend, the more scrupulous your search for the best alternative will be. Limitations push you to think outside the box for a solution. The opposite is also true. An abundance makes for splurging. Limits make you resourceful. Resourcefulness ensures you utilize what is available to get by.

We Have Enough. Too Much.

Truth is, most of us don’t need more time, energy, or money. We only lack resourcefulness to use these things. The twenty-four hours on the clock, the biologically limited machine, and the bills and bank accounts were never the issue. You and I are. Limits leave you no choice. You either make-do and overcome them, or you don’t. Your creativity on a budget is either enough, or it isn’t.

Psychology backing this up is intuitive. Research shows that constraints on time, resources, or options boosts creativity. Known as creative constraint, this phenomenon forces people to summon their divergent thinking. Rather than relying on conventional solutions, they explore novel ones. The brain grew this way. It makes sense. Something is missing. The usual route is unavailable. Time to try new things. Breakthrough ideas are born this way. People live constraint-laden lives and see various inadequacies we don’t run into. All of a sudden, we get innovative companies seemingly out of nowhere.

Less Might Be More!

In the psychological mess also reside the paradox of choice and flow state. Barry Schwartz explored choice. Our assumption that more options is better is wrong. Options lead to decision paralysis and dissatisfaction. Constraints narrow choices, reduce cognitive load, and make decision-making more fulfilling and efficient. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi researched flow state. His findings show that optimal productivity occurs when tasks are super challenging, yet achievable. On the edge. Constraints on time, energy, and money fit the bill.

Additionally, constraints improve efficiency. Individuals are simply more likely to concentrate on high-priority tasks when they don’t have unlimited time or resources. This aligns perfectly with Parkinson’s Law, which states “work expands to fill the time allocated for its completion.” Plus, they make for innovation. Say a team is limited by a budget. They’ll find creative, low-cost solutions—ones which would’ve been overlooked, had they more resources.

The Paradoxical Science Behind It

Limitations also hit two birds with one stone: prioritization and balance. Limits force you to identify what’s genuinely worth working towards. This helps develop one’s judgment and sense of what matters most in achieving goals. Crucial for all of life. As a cherry on top, limits on time and energy prevent burnout. People become more selective with their efforts. Work-life balance grows imperative. Tasks that have the highest return on investment are automatically put forth.

Why does this work? Parkinson’s Law: work expands to fill the time allocated for it. Pareto Principle (80/20 rule): twenty percent of efforts generate eighty percent of results. Eisenhower Matrix: a mental limitation helps prioritize tasks. Opportunity Cost: limitations force people to think about what they’re sacrificing, leading to better decisions. Jevons Paradox: as technological improvements increase efficiency, overall consumption of resources goes up, and limitations combat this. Decision fatigue: decision-making becomes more challenging as you make choices throughout the day, and constraints on choices combat this. Cognitive load: the human brain has a limited processing capacity, so constraints inherently make us more efficient.

Real-Life Examples

Constraints shine bright. Entrepreneurship is a golden example. Limited funding results in startups prioritizing innovation and frugality. This is how Dropbox started with minimal features and how Airbnb relied on grassroots marketing due to lacking marketing money. Agile software development and minimal viable products (MVP) are classic instances as well. Authors write under tight deadlines as it keeps the procrastination demon away—the word constraint in journalism is similar, enforcing quality.

Final Thoughts

Frankly, you get the point. The less time, money, or energy you have, the better use you’ll make of that time, money, or energy. Resourcefulness is a crucial ability in today’s unpredictable world. Work on it. Set limits. Suggestions: time at work, time exercising, budget for clothes, budget for groceries. "However desperate the situation and circumstances, don't despair. When there is everything to fear, be unafraid. When surrounded by dangers, fear none of them. When without resources, depend on resourcefulness. When surprised, take the enemy by surprise." ~ Sun Tzu