Personal

As for myself,  I think I work best when given restraints.  Engineering, for instance is a good example.  The Whole basis behind it is accomplishing something new within constraints.  These could be a set of customer requirements, or physical limitations.  There is quite a bit of original thought associated with this.  The true creativity may come in using a material in a way that hadn't been done before.  An example of this is my Capstone project.  We are making a compliant bicycle derailleur, with one link of it being a flexible material that endures large deflection.  The constraints were that it had to have sufficient spring force, have very long fatigue life, and its length had to be shortened dramatically.  The current solution did not meet these requirements.  Our creativity kicked in doing the research.  I believe all major accomplishments come after much research and work.   Our solution centered around using a fiberglass composite as the compliant strip material.  This idea had never come to the others that had worked on it before.   Even Research and Development engineers must work within constraints set by management and themselves.

Another example of constraint in my personal life is the church.  According to some I must remove these so-called restrictions in order to be more creative with my life.  I think this is wrong.  I have been given these laws for my benefit, and they do bless me when I follow them.  When put in a difficult situation, I think that the one who has rules to live by must be more creative in order to deal with the problem.  An example of this might be when confronted by a very rude person.  The easy response is to be rude back, but the person who knows that isn't right, must be more creative in a response to be more friendly. 

Everyday life requires one to be creative.  Simply figuring out the logistics of a vacation or trip within constraints requires creativity.  It is an everyday thing.  I must make some kind of decision every day that requires my creativity.