Image Credit: Dan Zen

I’m just spit-balling here, but I’d guess that if you looked at all of the creative and many business agencies in the world today, you’d probably find that at least half of them use the phrase “think outside the box,” or something strikingly similar. The term is a cliché. And in my opinion, the concept itself is just wrong.

Take a moment to think back to what it was like when you were a kid – or if you have kids, think back to the last Christmas or birthday you celebrated together. Boxes were very special things. Many times they were more special than the objects/toys that came packaged so neatly inside them. Whatever that toy was that can in the box, even if it did a bunch of cool things, was still just a toy that did those things. Now, a box, that’s a completely different story. A box can be anything, as long as you use some creative power.

I recently watched the video below of a TED talk given by Tim Brown on creativity and play.

Direct Link to video
Tim Brown’s profile on TED

He mentions that one of the interesting things about when you ask adults to be creative, is that you will hear many of them saying, “sorry.” He correlates this to us being afraid of sharing our ideas for fear of rejection – thereby hindering our own creativity. Children, on the other hand, typically are very liberal in their application of creativity to the world around them.

I Challenge You To Think INSIDE and AROUND the Box

Why think outside the box? When you give a kid a box, they will turn it into a number of things. They have more fun with the boxes on Christmas than they do with the toys inside of them. Toys typically only do one thing; a box can be a thousand things.

Think inside and around the box. Find innovative ways to turn the box into something completely different. Some of the best ideas come from improving existing things. There are many examples of this, but my personal favorite is Twitter. They took the concept of a status message and turned it into a social revolution that has forever changed the online landscape.

What do you think? How do you find new ways to think inside the box in your life, at work, with your family? Do you apologize when you make attempts at being creative?