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How many times have you been told to 'think outside the box'? Everyone seems to think that this is a creative way to approach solving problems, but they miss a big point: there's a box for a reason.
How many times have you been told to 'think outside the box'?
Everyone seems to think that this is a creative way to approach solving problems, but they miss a big point: there's a box for a reason.
Imagine if the only rule in football was to get the ball to the other end of the field. How would you do it?
You certainly wouldn't limit yourself to 4 tries, trade off possessions, and suggest 300 pound guys try and tackle you in the process. You'd probably walk the ball down the field … and that would be that.
When You Have Guidelines, You Have the Tools to Decide
But that's not creative or fun. That's not even remotely interesting. So you establish rules. You establish guidelines for how the solution should be achieved.
Hence, your box. Your box is the path to your solution.
When you're working inside of the box, finding creative solutions can be way more fulfilling than choosing from the unlimited possibilities outside of the box.
You could easily tear the stickers off of a Rubik's Cube and re-arrange them to get all the colors on the right sides. But that's not the point.
Working within the guidelines challenges you to be more creative. Having a guide can help you find a solution that doesn't seem obvious at first.
The Ultimate Inside-the-Box Creativity
Debbie and I are currently working on the ultimate inside-the-box creativity. With a baby on the way, we're coming up with possibles names. (We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, so two names are necessary).
As Jews (and Ashkenazi ones at that), our naming box is only so large. Aish explains:
Ashkenazi Jews have the custom of naming a child after a relative who has passed away. This keeps the name and memory alive, and in a metaphysical way forms a bond between the soul of the baby and the deceased relative. This is a great honor to the deceased, because its soul can achieve an elevation based on the good deeds of the namesake. The child, meanwhile, can be inspired by the good qualities of the deceased — and make a deep connection to the past.
So when we're thinking of names — both a first and a middle — these are the guidelines we're working with. And it helps.
If there were no guidelines to picking a name, we'd be all over the place. She likes certain names, I like totally different ones.
When we're working within the same confinements, we can come to a common solution. We have to be more creative because of the limitations.
Yes, You Can Be Creative Inside the Box
I hate boxes. But they're there for a reason.
When you need to work in a box, don't consider your creativity lost. Use the guidelines you have to develop a creative solution.
If the Apollo 13 crew can figure out how to fit a square peg in a round hole while the astronauts lives are at stake, you can be creative inside the box.
Coincidentally, Mark McGuinness at Lateral Action posted a story yesterday called "Why Thinking "Outside the Box" Doesn't Work" — give it a read for a different perspective.
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Comments
12.10.08
Great post Jason! I saw this a lot back in the corporate world ... people whining about the lack of creativity and how mundane life had become inside their boxes. But those who adapted to the box and learned to be innovative inside of it were the ones who were destined for success.
12.10.08
On a side note ...
Being in a entrepreneurial environment, with less boxes in place, it's tough to put a limit on aspirations for your business. But it seems to me that if you don't learn to at least do that a little your business will have no focus and is destined for failure.
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