Some thoughts I wrote when I was living in the Amazon rainforest for a week:
Life in the Amazon rainforest is not much different than living in a first-world country - ok I lied but there is some truth. The competition between the plethora of organisms where resources are limited and finite creates an ecosystem much similar to ours in America. Parasite trees wrap around trees, engulfing their roots to take away precious resources needed for the host tree. With hyper-competition as one aspect of the rainforest, we also see the opposite. Collaboration of unlikely species to forge symbiotic relationships, like a business arrangement in the first world. Lemon ants extract acidic material from a tree to eat and spread the acidity around the ground to prevent other plants to grow and take away rich nutrients. Moss grows up trees to survive against predators and provide the trees with higher water absorption. With nature placing natural limitations in a confined space creativity, collaboration, competition, and adaptation can flourish.
Like many art and innovations, nature inspires and sometimes even the template. With this in mind, I believe that true innovation and masterful art can start from inside “the box”. The box is the real-life limitation that constrains us. Instead of thinking outside the box, let the box guide you and find a way to break out of the box with the resources you have, just like the organisms of the Amazon rainforest. Collaborate with others to leverage skills you don’t have, to increase your overall resources or your access to new ones. Compete against threats by bleeding them dry of resources, the same resources that are both available to you. Hide, camo, and evade when organisms with superior resources and execution come in your path. Adapt, pivot ideas, and execution without hesitation to reduce stagnation and eventually, death. Lastly, stay creative with your limited and finite resources. “The box” acts as a guidepost towards effective solutions.
If we had infinite and unlimited resources, theoretically all things would be possible, making any art/innovation/solution arbitrary and ineffective. The art of innovation comes from the creator's ability to invent something within the limitations of their environment. Although a movie, Tony Stark in Iron Man creates the first Iron Man suit prototype in a cave with off-brand parts from a group of terrorists. Later in the film, the antagonist hires a team of scientists to replicate the suit in a military-grade laboratory with a far larger range of resources. He fails initially the first few times and cannot create it because he does not have the ingenuity and spark required to live like Tony did. Next time you want to create something, place some limitations on yourself to create an environment where you will have to struggle, adapt, collaborate, and/or compete.