Day 352: Thinking Outside Of The Box

The greatest ideas anyone can have are the ones that are completely outside of the box. The ideas that wouldn't necessarily just go with right away, the ones that are not quite in conjunction with all the other ideas floating around inside their head. Those ideas are the ones that will take someone to new heights.

How often do you get stuck in a rut with your ideas? Probably quite often because that is a normal part of life. We think the same way day after day and after a while, that is the only way we can think. Coming up with ideas outside of our own comfort zones becomes nearly impossible.

Yet, new ideas are the very things that keep us alive and fresh. They rejuvenate our minds and change our lives, each one altering some aspect of who we are because of how unusual they are to our normal way of thinking. Thinking outside of the box is necessary for our lives to remain interesting.

Thinking outside of the box comes with practice. It comes with recognizing that you are stuck in a rut with your thinking and doing everything you can to come up with a way out. One must first acknowledge there is a problem before doing anything to try and fix it, that is the only way to being able to consciously grow as a person.

Once, we've acknowledge that we're stuck we must begin to expand our minds. Try branching into new ideas by trying to come up with them based on what another person would do in your situation. We know our family and friends pretty well and therefore we can make pretty accurate assumptions of what they would do. This is the easiest way to think outside of the box and is pretty easy to do.

In the same vein as above try coming up with ideas based on what a famous person or fictional character would come up with. We have a way of being able to separate own own opinions and thought processes from those of others and can come up with quite a few really good ideas by doing this.

Yet, the key is to simply not stop. Once you've come up with an idea, write it down and then write down 100 other ideas. Write down everything you can think of and keep yourself from putting limitations on yourself. You never know where an idea will lead you and what other ideas will come because of it. Come up with as many ideas as possible and bounce them around in your head to see what other ideas those will produce.

Being outside of the box takes time, but it starts by recognizing where your box is and making actual efforts to get outside of it. Think big and most importantly don't tell yourself now or restrict your ideas. Being negative to new ideas or ideas that are outside of your comfort zones is the fastest way into a rut.

Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt