Most people want us to “Think Out of the Box”. It would help us greatly if we can describe our box that boxes us in. If we don’t know what and where is the box, how are we going to break free ? It is almost an impossible task for us to break free from our biases and presumptions because we are not aware of them in the first place! The Bible put it as the log in our eyes that we don’t see. Luke 6:41 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
The first step in ‘Out of Box Thinking’ is to know the Box.
What are the hidden assumptions, false perceptions and the tracks of our ‘one-track-mindset’ in our mind that bind us? There is good news though. We don’t have to spend time defining the boundaries of our box before we can break free and be creative. We just need to break down one wall or dig a hole in the wall to breakout into the new free world of ideas.
Systematic Methods to Break Free.
There is better good news. There are methods worked out by the geniuses that we can systematically apply to break free. One of such methods is TRIZ and its various derivatives such as SIT, ASIT. See Roni Horowitz’s article on “Using ASIT to Develop New Products” or buy his books. ASIT are simple to use. For those more motivated and technical, try TRIZ after ASIT.