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Think out of the Box

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Mixed race woman hiding in cardboard box

What do you do when you’re trying to find a solution to a problem? What do you do when you have to find a very good solution and you have no idea? You start telling yourself to ‘think out of the box’. To start thinking creatively and imaginatively sounds easy and simple, but actually very hard to do.

Any inventions that have ever been created weren’t just something that was already drawn out on a piece of paper for the inventors. They had to think. They had to imagine the masterpiece before it was even a physical object. These people weren’t just thinkers or inventors. These people ‘thought outside the box’ and so it was possible.

There would have never been iPhone if Steve Jobs hadn’t thought of combining a computer and a phone in one place device. We would have a phone for sure and it might even be as thin as a paper but that would only be a phone and not a multi-purpose device. He thought out of the box and because of that revolutionary idea, now we use phone for almost everything.

There would have never been iPhone if Steve Jobs hadn’t thought of combining a computer and a phone in one place device.

This applies to all of us in every step of our life. It’s not easy to think creatively or to think out of the box. You need to practice. You need to know how to get out of the box, where to go, and how to come back inside the box because that is where we live in. We live in boxes with full comfort. We don’t tend to go out of that safe zone. To think out of the box is the state of mind between what you know and what you haven’t still found out or is yet to be found out.

So, before you say let’s think creatively or think out of the box you need to keep in mind few things. The first step is brainstorming. Work on a problem and try to figure out any possible solution. Don’t say ‘That won’t work’ or ‘We can’t solve this problem,’ but say ‘Why won’t it work and how can I make it work?’ Start thinking that there is no boundary on what you can imagine. Next is to learn new things and by new things I literally mean anything. It can be something like learning a new language or how to write blogs or make videos or anything that you wish. This increases your thinking power, your inner potential and you become more open to new ideas and thoughts.

Charles H. Duell, Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, had said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” He made a perfect example of thinking out of the box. Interestingly, this quote was made in 1899 when people were still traveling by horse and train, long before automobiles, airplanes and other things were invented. So, you see there is no limit on what you can imagine and think of. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Keep this is mind whenever you are working on a problem.

By Ashna Poudel

The writer is currently pursuing +2 degree at Brihaspati Vidyasadan.