While giving this blog a rest for the last month, I have been reading up on ways to improve business. One of the biggest and most overly used phrases I read was “Think outside the box.” So many people give this advice but very few can actually accomplish it. Why?
The answer is really simple. We are not as creative as we think. Many in business like to think they are coming up with a brand new idea or concept. If there is anything the internet has taught us, it is that we are dead wrong. There are people all over who have the same or similar ideas.
And further more, ideas do not appear like a sudden bang. Yes epiphanies happen but an epiphany is a revelation of concepts already floating in the subconscious. In reality, ideas are built on the backs of the giants before us. Every concept, innovation, design, dream comes from the last one before it. That is why as a designer inspiration is so, so, so imporant. Because truly, people are not that creative. We need help to build an idea.
This is why thinking outside the box is almost always a moot point. When you are thinking outside the box, there is no foundation or source of inspiration. It is like someone trying to build a moving vehicle before first having the invention of the wheel. When this happens it becomes very difficult (and dare I say even impossible) to really come up with a viable solution or new idea in this abyss known as “outside the box.”
So here is what I pose instead:
As an entrepreneur you are in a very unique spot. You can use The Box to your advantage. Build off of it, feed on it, implode it—but don’t leave it. Instead stand on the edge as far as you can go. Instead of devising a brand new way to do something, feed off that foundation. Use what you already know, what is already established and twist it, shake it, bend it until you have something better.
Yes, there have been brand new ideas in history. Once in a while a Google comes along and changes everything with a brand new concept that has never been thought of before. But as an entrepreneur you don’t have the luxury of working out something from nothing. It is a much more viable solution to improve what is than to completely change it.
Now go back in the box. Put your mind as far to the edge as possible and you might just find much more effective solutions, inspiration, and innovation than by trying to step out.
For more articles on Entrepreneurship and Professional Lifestyle, Subsbribe to Zen Problog today.
photo credit: woodleywonderworks
+++
Side note: The new look for Zen Problog should be coming later this week. Stay tuned.
If you liked that post, then try these...
10 Methods to Release After A Long Day, Week, or Lifetime of Work
Great to see more articles from you…
Great post. Consider how long it’s been since our world has seen something truly life-changing - pardigm shifting - for example, the development of the telephone, or discovering the best way to harness electrical currents into energy for our homes, or having the ability to walk on the moon! These basic ideas have been expanded on, of course, but they are so monumentally historic that it’s not often that other quirky scientists are able to dream up something previously unimaginable. Thanks for the reminder to be truly creative
- Annie
At first you made me mad. I thought you were going to be a doomsday writer without giving anyone any hope that they can succeed as a business owner. But you fooled me. I’ve read several books on the subject which usually coincided with marketing strategies like Joe Vitale’s book “The Power Of Outrageous Marketing”. Why reinvent the wheel when it already works so well? Enhancements can always be done on anything as nothing is perfect. One activity Joe Vitale has his readers do is sit in a quiet place to think, have paper and pen handy, then pretend that you are exchanging your head with your mentor’s head. For instance, if you want to think outside the box for marketing like Joe Vitale does, then pretend you are exchanging heads with him. If you want to think like Richard Paul Evans, so you can write a world famous book, then exchange heads with him. And how about starting your own online bookstore? Robert Allen has a company to help you do that so why not think like he does to form your own? As an example, see what you can do with a site like this: http://www.bookwormsunited.com
Why not push it to the limit? But be careful you don’t break any copyright laws.
Michelle Rothwell, Founder
BookWorms United
http://www.bookwormsunited.com
Interesting Post. My bosses over the years have always told me to think outside of the box. One even went as far as to buy me a book called the “Purple Cow” but I am with you on sticking to what works. You just have to set your company apart from the competition. But if you stick to what you know and continue to build on that who knows, maybe one day you will find you have landed outside of the box.