What about all those Boxes? - Day 4

Hello creative thinkers!

Another day has come and so does another post, which is strongly connected to yesterdays post, so if you haven't read it yet you should absolutely do so ;-)

Yesterday evening I left you thinking about our first approach on creating ideas, but now it's time to talk about the second one, and it is all about boxes and how to get out of them.

found at weheartit

If I had to name a phrase which I heard most during my studies on creativity it would be "think outside of the box". I was told by so many teachers about it and every time it had a different meaning to them and they wanted me to figure out something different. But when it comes to creativity enhancement the concept suddenly made sense to me - and this is basically what I am trying to explain to you today ;-)

To me, all the time it sounded so easy to think outside of the box. I always had this picture in my mind of a usual carton box, and suddenly it opens up to show me a whole new world of thinking. Maybe some of you remember Spongebob Squarepants? There is one specific episode which maybe contributed a lot to my picturing about this whole "box-thing". In case you don't know it, watch it here - starting at 1:45.

Maybe you can see now, why it took me quite a long time to realize why this box is something bad when talking about creativity. But, sometimes, it certainly is. Yesterday I was talking about walls you need to climb to exploit your whole creative potential. Today, you should consider this walls as a box, and to create something new and to gather new ideas, you have to think outside of it. Because sometimes even the silliest ideas can be great, you just can't see it, since there is this box between you and your thinking.

So to create great ideas and to overcome the box, you need to think in different directions. Ever heard about operational blindness? Another thing to overcome here. To be creative in your thinking process you need to use every possibility to solve your struggle, that means you can't just think straight ahead in the direction you're used to, but you also need to think left, right, backwards, up and down. You need to gather as many ideas as you can, if you really put them into reality is another question, 90%-chance remember?

To overcome the box a little easier, or at least to give you an idea on it, I found this wonderful article for you, showing you 11 ways to think outside of the box.

found at weheartit

Have fun reading it and see you tomorrow!

Yours,

AL

Tomorrows topic: "Why so curious?"