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# Paint yourself into a corner — Kelford Labs Daily
- URL: https://kelfordinc.com/paint-yourself-into-a-corner-kelford-labs-daily/
- Published: 2024-06-12T10:41:54.000Z
- Updated: 2026-01-27T15:21:13.000Z
- Description: Inspiring constraints.
- Author: Joel Kelly
- Tags: Daily Labs, content, writing, structure, constraint, process, focus, books, linkedin, tradeoff

> “\[Regarding his strict process for collecting notes and outlining stories\]  
>  
> It painted me into a corner, yes, but in doing so it freed me to write.”  
>  
> — John McPhee, Draft No. 4

Strategy is merely the *structure* to work *efficiently* to get what you *want*.

***Content* strategy, then, is the structure you need to efficiently produce content that gets you the results you want.**

Which means you’ve got to paint yourself into the corner sometimes.

Having a structure for your content—a set of constraints—keeps you from staring at a blank page.

As one of my clients once told me, the structure we provided to him turned that blank page staring contest into more of a “fill in the blanks exercise.”

**And isn’t that the dream? That when it’s time to make your marketing content it’s easy, obvious, and clear what you need to create?**

That’s what *structure* provides. Yes, it’s constraining—but that’s the whole point.

So, what do I mean? Well, instead of staring at the text box at the top of your LinkedIn feed wondering what the heck you’re supposed to write, give yourself a constraint.

Maybe, for this week, you can *only* write about your process and how you do what you do. In fact, make it so you *have* to write about your process.

Explain to your ideal prospects and customers *why* you work the way you do, and how it provides *extraordinary* value to your best customers because of the unique *tradeoffs* you’ve made.

**Talk about** [**what you *don’t do***](https://kelfordinc.com/daily-lab-show-them-what-you-dont-do/)**, so you can focus on what you do best—for the people who value it most.**

Take that constraint and run with it for the rest of this week. Focus on your process—[which *is* your position](https://kelfordinc.com/your-process-is-your-position-kelford-labs-weekly/)—and get super specific in your content about what makes it unique and why you’ve chosen to do things your way.

You’ll find that with a clear constraint like that, you’re less likely to stare at the blank page.

**Because you’ve painted yourself into a corner, you’re free to write.**

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[Kelford Inc.](https://www.kelfordinc.com/) helps hands-on entrepreneurs and founders with complex marketing challenges define and articulate their unique value to their very best customers.

***We’ll show you the way to always knowing what to say.***