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Don’t think outside the box!

We are so often exhorted to think “outside the box” and there are all manner of clever gurus like Mr de Bono who offer us tools to help us do so. The benefits are clear and have become almost axiomatic, so why don’t we do so more often? The thing is, not only is it a skill to leave behind our familiar patterns of thought but it is a challenge. A challenge not just to our capability and our intellect but also to the primitive part of us that is scared by the new. If I come up with a new way of thinking, then where will that lead me? Will it mean I have to do something different? What might that lead to? The primitive part of our brain that is programmed to help us survive will do all it can to protect us from this terra incognita. It will throw up a million reasons why there is no point, why it won’t work, why tomorrow would be better etc

Maybe today you are a little worried about what is going on in the global economy and how you can / should respond. You might be witnessing doors closing and opportunities slipping away and yet this bit of you will try to prevent you from trying something new. Being aware of this flight/fight mechanism, will help you fight its pull.

Maybe today is a good day to begin thinking outside the box!

PS>> I’ll shortly be posting a follow-up article to help you work though some of these issues

“I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.” – Terry Pratchett

 

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 09:59 and is filed under Business Change, Flight / Fight, Personal Change. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

11 Responses to “Don’t think outside the box!”

  1. JohnMSoftware says:
    29 October , 2008 at 17:31

    There are useful ways to think outside the box. Here are a coumple.

    Play Devil’s advocate. It took me a long time to understand what this means; defend the devil. It means promote the unthinkable and see what happens.

    Be ridiculous. The Canadian telecoms company was plagued with ice building up on cables, eventually breaking them. Somebody suggested training flocks of birds to fly along the cables, blowing off the ice with the downdraft from their wings. This lead to the solution: use a helicopter.

    What would you ask from your fairy godmother?

    John McMillan

  2. richardderwentcooke says:
    29 October , 2008 at 17:46

    John, thanks for these good examples of thinking techniques. I just wish we had a similar resource of feeling ones to help with the underpinning emotions!

  3. martin_d says:
    29 October , 2008 at 17:53

    Thanks Richard,

    Your blog reminded me of this …

    Optical Delusion of Consciousness

    “A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

    This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

    Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”
    Albert Einstein

    Or … We live in a box, unaware that the instructions on how to get out of the box are in fact … written on the outside of the box.

    Martin

  4. richardderwentcooke says:
    29 October , 2008 at 17:56

    Brilliant Martin,thanks for this!

  5. JohnMSoftware says:
    29 October , 2008 at 18:05

    Martin

    Reminds me of a Japanese printer I bought years ago. The third thing I removed from the box was …

    the instructions for opening the box!

    John

  6. richardderwentcooke says:
    29 October , 2008 at 18:11

    Isn’t that great… how often do we provide vital information at the wrong time and cause all sorts of problems for ourselves & others…

  7. Simon_e says:
    29 October , 2008 at 18:20

    Don’t think outside the box!
    by Simon•Caricatures and Cartoons•Ellinas on 29-Oct-08 4:24pm

    Yeah but, you can define any situation you’re in as ‘a box’. Therefore, if you’re ‘outside the box’ you’re in THAT particular box. So, following the received wisdom of this blog, you would have to think ‘outside’ that box and end up back in the box you were originally in. And so it continues, hopping from one box to another.

    Or am I simply being a square peg in a round hole?

  8. richardderwentcooke says:
    29 October , 2008 at 18:22

    Simon, an interesting idea, and valid I suppose.

    My challenge to it would be “Does this way of looking at it help you live a better, happier life?” If it does, then use it; if not, look at it a different way!

  9. Ron Davidson says:
    21 July , 2009 at 21:34

    Perhaps what is needed sometimes is to think INSIDE the box.

    Why look someplace else when all you need is a variation of what you’ve already got.
    The creative bit is to find the variant.

    Of course, if what is in the box isn’t working then by all means re-cycle it.

  10. richardderwentcooke says:
    21 July , 2009 at 22:01

    I think looking inwards can often be the most important place to look Ron!

  11. Ruth says:
    30 March , 2011 at 02:35

    What I always say is, “it’s not that I think outside the box, as much as my box is different.” or something to that effect.

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