Freedom and constraints

True freedom is an illusion.

The ability to do anything, anytime with no restraints is suboptimal.

It can seem like true freedom and the removal of any constraints would be the peak of existence, but this is a fallacy.

Don't get me wrong, I value freedom highly.

When someone asks me what my goals are for the future, it's normally oriented around freedom.

I want to run my own indie business, so I can choose when, how much and what I work on.

I want to maximise earnings so that future me won't have to work but can choose to (or not to).

I resist commitments and restraints and seek to minimise them whenever possible.

Booking in a dinner in two months time is a restriction on the optionality of future Fred, he no longer has freedom to be wherever, doing whatever.

Sure, the trade off is often worth it, I want to see those friends, and I like our dinners together.

But the further out the commitments, the less sure I am that the future version of me will want to be there doing that, versus being somewhere doing something else.

But if I'm orienting myself towards freedom, it's worth playing it out to the extremes to see what's really on offer.

True freedom, in this definition, is the lack of any constraints.

Any limitation is a restriction on my freedom to choose alternative paths I could have taken.

But a world without any constraints wouldn't be heaven, it would be hell.

We've all been frustrated by rules, rules that are designed to limit what you can and can't do.

But playing a game without any rules is no fun at all.

I play football (soccer) most weeks, and sometimes we turn up and there's no ref.

If true freedom is the aim, you'd think we'd be happy about that, but we aren't.

We need the referee to enforce the rules that make the game worth playing.

Without the rules others may cheat, and without the rules we may do the same.

Even if you could bribe the ref so that the rules don't apply to you, so he gives every decision your way, that wouldn't improve things.

That would simply take away the whole point of playing, to challenge yourself within the constraints of the game to overcome and win.

It would get old, fast.

So rules and restrictions aren't inherently bad.

Instead, as with most things, it comes down to balance.

Picking and choosing the games we want to play.

Deciding what truly matters to us, and why, and then embracing the constraints that game brings.

Inexperienced designers often think that an ideal project is one with a huge budget, unlimited timeframe and creative freedom.

But an experienced designer understands that constraints are not only useful, but necessary for great art.

Picasso needed a canvas.

Steph curry needs gravity.

And I need constraints, too.

This lesson has been a hard one to learn, and the message hasn't fully hit home yet.

I still struggle with making commitments for future me.

I still seek to minimise wherever I can.

But at least I'm becoming aware of my need for them.

True freedom then, isn't the lack of all constraints, it's choosing which ones to embrace.

And I'm learning to embrace that.