The case for boxing ourselves in

David Epstein is a challenger of conventional wisdom, and on this week’s episode of What Could Go Right? he turned one more cliché on its head. His new book, Inside the Box, argues that creativity and innovation, not to mention happiness, often are sparked by constraints and not from the limitless freedom we imagine we want.

In fact, David believes that unlimited choice often leaves us less satisfied, not least because boundaries — whether in broom shopping or book writing — tend to sharpen focus rather than limit possibility. It’s a fascinating and counterintuitive observation, whether you agree with it or not.

Ironically, we didn’t constrain ourselves during our lively back and forth. We jumped from why Norway’s youth sports system consistently outperforms expectations to what the decline of Sports Illustrated (where David once worked) says about media today to how investigative journalism has evolved to whether AI offers genuine knowledge or just a feeling of learning. Along the way, we revisited one of David’s earlier books, Range, reconciling its embrace of generalism with his new work’s call for self-imposed constraint.

Ultimately, our conversation boiled down to a plea to live more intentionally. In a world of virtually infinite options, focusing on what actually deserves our attention and letting everything else go might be the most liberating act of all.

Three quotes to whet your appetite:

“We overlook limits as our potentially most powerful tools for driving creativity.”

“If you’re not structuring your attention, then it’s being structured for you.”

“It’s almost always bad to be a maximizer. Maximizers are less happy with their decisions — even when they’re good — less happy with their lives, and more prone to regret.”

“Sometimes ‘good enough’ leads to a better life.

You can listen to our entire conversation in its entirety here.