The Day I Realized “Creative Freedom” Still Needs Structure
Too much freedom is just chaos disguised as a vacation.
As a youngster trying to build a career in Hollywood, I used to think freedom meant doing whatever I wanted.
Things like sleeping in and creating when inspiration struck were at the top of my list of goals.
It felt kind of artistic. It also felt… kind of like being stuck in quicksand.
Because here’s the thing I discovered: When you have complete freedom (aka no deadlines, no accountability, no constraints) you don’t actually create more.
You just get better at imagining what you might create someday.
🎬 The Season of Creative Drift
Looking back on my career, the time I spent working on Larry King’s show “Larry King Now” was the closest I’d have to this level of freedom.
I had no client calls, no deadlines, and a pretty squishy part-time job with plenty of time to “just create”.
And in that time, I probably started hundreds of personal projects, in my mind.
Short film concepts, 50+ script ideas, YouTube series…
Guess how many I finished in those 8 years?
1 short film and two feature length first drafts that never saw the light of day…
Because every project was born out of inspiration, and died from lack of structure.
🧩 The Paradox of Freedom
The biggest myth in creativity is that freedom equals output. But in reality, constraints are what make creativity possible.
It’s something that I should’ve known all along.
In school and on projects, it’s the deadline, the pressure, the box that you have to work in that truly sparks the drive and creativity that I was after.
And in the real world, you can’t just “feel it out” on set - you have call times, budgets, weather, and locations that lock you into focus.
Within those walls, creativity thrives. And, without them, it wanders.
When you’re a creator or entrepreneur, you have to build those walls yourself. And, that’s the hardest part.
⚙️ How I Fixed It
I started treating my personal projects like client work.
Which meant, giving myself deadlines, writing out creative briefs, understanding my deliverables, and working inside project management tools.
I gave my creative freedom structure - and suddenly, the output multiplied.
And here’s the best and most important part: It didn’t kill my creativity.
Because now I could actually finish things. And finishing - not starting - is what builds confidence, momentum, and mastery.
💡 The Takeaway
Creative freedom without discipline is just creative drift.
You don’t need more time or more ideas. Exactly the opposite, really.
You need structure - a framework that lets inspiration move through you, not drown you.
And one that helps push things over the finish line.
Because nothing kills your creative spark faster than realizing
you’re the only one standing in the way of your own momentum…
Cheers,
Alex