It’s often been asserted that doing creative work needs some limits in order to get many people motivated. This can take the form of a deadline, the size of a sheet of paper, the length of a written work, or sometimes, another form entirely.

David Gauntlett explores this question using LEGO as a thinking tool… but as reduced a version as he can put together out of an inexpensive playset he found locally. (LEGO also offers an official LEGO Serious Play process as well.)

But LEGO blocks are not the only things that can offer a creative constraint that can stimulate imagination in a new direction or help provoke an idea. Many social media applications can do the same thing. Let’s have a look at Twitter. 140 characters to summarize your message, less if the user you are addressing has a long Twitter handle! Addressing us eats up 12: @what_ifblog. Adding in a space for good form, this leaves you with 127 characters to send us a message.

Here’s an idea for today.If you wanted to submit to our call for entries that we put out in August but didn’t quite know how to formulate your sentence, why not send us an entry on Twitter? That way, you have a built-in format and length limitation: 127 characters (text only, please) to submit your wish or vision for the future. Have a quick look at the call for entries again to guide you and then tweet away! We look forward to tweeting back.

Photo: Apple © Clio Montrey