Constraint Theory

A methodology I’ve found to be really effective and applicable in creating improvement is ‘constraint theory’. It’s the idea that everything expands, flows, and produces without restriction until it meets its first limitation. That limitation is the constraint.

Think of it like a hose where the water valve is turned all the way on. Under normal conditions, the water will naturally flow with full water pressure. But if there are kinks or blockages in the hose, it will impact the water pressure that comes out the end, so much so that it might not flow any water at all.

It’s more abstract, but when something isn’t working in your life how you want it to, it’s often because you’ve run up against a constraint.

Good intentions to eat healthy, exercise consistently, get focused work done, follow through on marketing tactics, and spend quality time with your family perform to their first constraint. When you analyze things and identify what’s keeping you from achieving a desired result or taking a specific action, you can trace it back to the obstacle that’s getting in the way. The kink in the hose.

It’s wanting to eat healthy, but you didn’t have a healthy option at home. The constraint is the food that’s available. 

It’s having the intention to make sales calls, but you ran out of time. The constraint is that you didn’t carve out the hour to do it, or that you got distracted during that hour and deprioritized doing it.

Just about everything is vulnerable to constraints because everything operates off of the simple, universal principle of ‘cause and effect’. Things don’t just happen at random, they’re the byproduct of the conditions and design around it. When you change the design and undo a constraint, you unlock the next tier of result, which produces to the extent of the next constraint which then serves as the limiting factor.

Knowing that my own self-growth is limited by my own personal constraints, I am constantly seeking to understand what’s getting in the way of the abundance and flow I want. One of the things I want most right now is more business partnerships, and the constraint is creating more time to do more outreach and connect on calls. So I’m being really intentional about auditing what’s taking up my time, understanding the commitments on my plate, and taking action to free myself up to better prioritize partnerships.

In today’s world, there are 3 constraints that I see come up over and over again: Time (not having the capacity to do more), clarity (not knowing exactly what to do or what will work), and discipline (not bringing yourself to do the thing you’ve committed to).

If you want to chat with me to uncover the biggest constraints in your life, which are keeping you from the results you know you’re capable of and deserve, then book a time here, I'd love to connect!