In 1975 Stephen Spielberg was in the middle of directing a movie that would become a Hollywood classic. The revolutionary techniques used in this film would forever change the movie industry. Once it was completed and released he would shatter box office records.
But there was one major problem.
The shark wouldn’t work. Day after day production was delayed to repair the most sophisticated and expensive animatronic equipment ever built. And without a working shark, it was going to be pretty difficult to make the movie Jaws.
With anyone other than Spielberg at the helm Jaws would have been a theatrical and financial disaster. Yet somehow, Spielberg was able to take the limitation of a broken shark and make one of the greatest movies of all time.
How?
Spielberg understands that limitations can be a good thing. They can force you down new paths to find creative solutions. The end result is often better than you ever could’ve done with no limits.
We’ll come back to Spielberg and Jaws in a minute, but first I want to show you five common limitations and how you can transform them into a strength instead.