Use Constraint Hacking to Stop Being a Victim of Your Situation

Are You Caged or Fueled by Constraints?

May 20, 2025

Everyone has experienced “if only” moments playing in their mind:

“If only… I had more money, I could begin a start-up.”
“If only… I had more time, I would go to the gym.”
“If only… I wasn’t so busy, I would read more books.”
“If only… my boss would listen, my job would be great.”

I call this “If only” thinking. If only this happened, then life would be great.

If only thinking is the charade that keeps us from growing, because if only rarely happens. That missing variable that stands between you and success is likely to stay out of reach.

If only thinking sets you up for failure. It’s a comforting lie that makes our inaction feel justified.

You’re surrendering to your situation, instead of thinking about how you can best leverage your unfavorable circumstances. I can guarantee that you’ll never start if you require pristine conditions before even beginning.

You’ve got a crucial choice to make: Do you want to be caged by constraints, or do you want to be fueled by them?

Do you want your constraints to dictate your choices? Or do you take control by hacking your constraints?

Don’t be a victim of your limits. Be an architect of your own path with constraint hacking.

Let’s paint a picture of carving your own path by telling the story of the absolute master of Constraint Hacking: Robert Rodriguez.

Constraint Hacking: How to Win With a Fistful of Nothing - Robert Rodriguez

Legendary filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, who you might know from the famous movies Spy Kids, Sin City, or From Dusk Till Dawn, is an absolute master at overcoming constraints. Rodriguez deeply understands how to creatively transform a fistful of nothing into a knockout punch.

Rodriguez made a movie without a budget, a crew or equipment that won the 93’ Sundance Audience award in the Drama film category. The movie was called ‘El Mariachi’.

His first full-length feature movie is even listed in the Guinness World Book of Records

How did he pull it off? Here is his incredible and inspiring story.

Making a Movie With Zero Budget

Robert Rodriguez had little going for him when he decided to make his first full-length feature film. He had no crew, no money, no connections, no movie set, no crew, no location, no lighting, no movie camera, no editing equipment, no actors, no script.

In short, the list of things he didn’t have was far longer than the things he did have. But the most important thing was that he was as aware of his limitations as all the things he had going for him.

Two things worked in his favor:

He was obsessed with making movies. He loved all aspects of making a movie and wasn’t afraid of rolling up his sleeves to wing it. He was already making short movies and editing them since he was a kid.
He didn’t have any money to make a movie and he knew there was nothing he could do to significantly change this.

In his own words:

“In school they don’t teach you how to make a movie when you have no money and no crew. They teach you how to make a big movie with a big crew so that you can go to Hollywood and get a job pulling cables on someone else’s movie.” - Robert Rodriguez, Rebel Without a Crew

To make a movie, you first need a script. Here is the advice Robert Rodriguez received many times over on writing a script:

“I have read many times that the best way to learn to write scripts is to actually sit down and write two full scripts and after you’re done you should throw them away. You’ll learn a lot by doing those first two but they’ll be awful, so after you write them you should throw them away and then start writing your real script.” - Robert Rodriguez, Rebel Without a Crew

This advice didn’t sit well with Rodriguez:

“What!? Whoever thought of that game is whacked… I just know I could never bring myself to create two complete, time-consuming scripts only to throw them away afterwards. It is hard enough to try and find the motivation to write anything, much less something that you know you will throw out because it will be awful.” - Robert Rodriguez, Rebel Without a Crew

And then the alternative suddenly hit him:

“Instead of writing two scripts and throwing them away afterwards, why not just take the scripts and make them for really low budget movies? That way while you’re practicing your writing skills you can also practice your filmmaking skills.” - - Robert Rodriguez, Rebel Without a Crew

That’s exactly what Robert Rodriguez set out to do: make a movie based on his first script. He realized he needed two things to get started: a script and money for a making the movie.

Getting Money and Writing the Script

Robert Rodriguez decided to apply for medical testing at a research facility. He got accepted for a medical trial that would pay out 3000 bucks. It also meant he had to stay inside a carefully monitored medical facility for one month.

The clinic would provide two important things:

Enough money to make a movie.
Peace and quiet, together with lodging, for writing a script in one month.

When he was discharged, he left with enough money and a finished version of his movie script.

Making the Movie

Because Robert Rodriguez had no money, he made careful choices to get the most out of the little money he had

Everything would be filmed in a single location in Mexico: Ciudad Acuña.
He wrote his script around the location, people and props that were present, instead of writing a script that placed special demands on the location.
He used locals as extras.
He would cast normal people as actors, instead of real ones to prevent having to pay union wages. Some of the actors were people he met in his medical clinic who he thought would look good on the movie screen.
He would shoot on inexpensive 16 mm film, instead of expensive 35 mm film.
Used only one take per shot wherever possible. He didn’t have enough money for multiple takes, so the first take was what he always used
Used natural lighting whenever possible, and cheap DIY store lamps for lighting when it wasn’t possible.
Borrowed the camera from his film school: a 16 mm Arri camera Arriflex 16S.
Made squibs (artificial blood) with household items.

Even with these shrewd decisions, he still encountered many problems he had to resolve during filming:

The whole script was written in English, but he wanted the movie to be in Spanish. The actors translated the script on the fly to Spanish. Robert Rodriguez didn’t know how to speak Spanish.
He didn’t have money to spend on a wardrobe, so he used the wardrobe of the actors. He simply asked them to show their outfits and then he would pick the clothes that would most fit their character based on what they had available.
The camera made far too much noise to record sound and video at the same time, so he decided to record sound separately afterwards and dub it in.
Because he recorded the sound afterwards, it was impossible to have the movement of the lips of the actors and their sound to perfectly match. He would solve this creatively by cutting to other shots when the lips and the sound didn’t match.
He didn’t have a dolly to smoothly move the camera around, so he used a broken wheel chair as a make-shift dolly.
When the movie was finished, he didn’t edit the movie first, but he first made a trailer. This meant he could show his movie to executives, to create buzz and anticipation before the release. This landed him representation with International Creative Management (ICM) before his movie was even released.
He was extremely opportunistic. Rodriguez noticed a turtle walking during a shot and spontaneously decided to film it. It became a quirky and memorable symbol of the film’s pacing and character.
Mistakes and accidents were left in and not reshot, to give the movie a gritty charm.
He cut around moments that didn’t work or where something was missing, inventing a new visual rhythm to make scenes coherent. This gave the movie an unique look and feel to captivate audiences.

The creative problem solving approach of Rodriguez paid off handsomely:

Robert Rodriguez signed a deal with Columbia Pictures for distributing El Mariachi.
The movie made over $2 million worldwide, which is roughly a 28,500% return on investment.
El Mariachi became the poster child for DIY indie filmmaking, inspiring an entire generation.
Entered the Guinness Book of World Records (2000 edition) as the lowest-budget film ever to gross $1 million at the box office.
Selected for preservation by the Library of Congress (in 2011) in the National Film Registry, recognized as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

In short, El Mariachi, was a success that nobody saw coming. The only reason this movie was possible, was because Rodriguez had mastered constraint hacking.

He could have given up and thought “If only… I had more money”, but he decided to make it work within his constraints instead.

The More Creative You Are, The Less Money You Need

In psychology there is a concept called locus of control. People with an external locus of control, whenever something bad happens to them, they blame their circumstances or others. People with an internal locus of control, strongly believe that they’re in control. If something goes wrong their first thought is: what could I have done better?

Robert Rodriguez has a strong internal locus of control and a powerful, empowering belief: the more creative you are, the less money you need. He had extreme confidence in his creative abilities.

Here’s Robert Rodriguez’ first lesson of filmmaking in his own words:

“The first lesson in this filmmaking school of thought is that it’s not your wallet that makes the movie, no matter what they tell you in school or in Hollywood. Think about it. Any monkey can tap himself out financially while making a movie. The idea is to tap yourself out creatively first.” - Robert Rodriguez, Rebel Without a Crew

When you don’t have money, your problem-solving skills are put to the test. Your creativity must do the work.

Creative problem solving can make the difference between something fresh and different and something processed and stale. The next time you have a big problem with an obvious and expensive solution, try to tap yourself out creatively first.

Anyone can solve high-stakes roadblocks by throwing money at the problem. Give creative brilliance the opportunity to shine by keeping your wallet shut.

True innovation lies in the margins of your limitations. Try hacking your constraints creatively, instead pulling out your trusty old friend the money hose where all creativity goes to die.

Trust your creative abilities, and try to master constraint hacking instead.

Be more like Robert Rodriguez. Be a rebel without a crew.