Constrain
Ban one whole category of choices; work inside what's left.
No colour allowed.
Seen in Georges Perec, La Disparition, 1969
Try it on your work
Pick an arbitrary limit for the next stretch of work: only what fits in one hand, only three components, only what exists in the room. Work inside it for a fixed time, and keep what the limit forced.
Restate your project in exactly twenty-five words. Not about twenty-five: exactly. The words you fought to keep are the priority list you didn't know you had.
Give the next decision three options maximum, set before you look at the real choices, and fit reality into the three. Once one is chosen, note what the ceiling excluded and whether it hurt.
How it has been used
Make one whole category of decision impossible and work inside what's left: Perec wrote a novel without the letter e; Lars von Trier's The Five Obstructions is nothing else. The move forbids negotiating with the ban: it applies always, or it isn't a constraint.
Where it leads
Grouped under Give me a useful restriction