Friday, November 06, 2009
11 Ways to Think Outside the Box
Stepcase Lifehack: "Thinking outside the box is more than just a business cliché. It means approaching problems in new, innovative ways; conceptualizing problems differently; and understanding your position in relation to any particular situation in a way you’d never thought of before. Ironically, its a cliché that means to think of clichéd situations in ways that aren’t clichéd."
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16 comments:
My favorite ways to think outside the box that this article listed are "Ask a Child" and "Study Another Industry". "Ask a Child" reminds me of Joe Pino and his daughter. I think "Ask a Child", could also be rephrased as "Don't Over think"; as we get older, we have the vice of over thinking many projects and tasks, but children can easily see the quickest and simplest ways to accomplish things. As for "Study Another Industry", that seems to apply wonderfully to theater, considering everything we use comes from some other industry. Another favorite is "Take a Shower", just for kicks.
All of these are really interesting ways to prompt "outside of the box" thinking. However, it is important to realize that these are just doorways that prompt out of the box thinking, not necessarily the thinking in and of itself. The two methods that intrigue me the most are the "Other Industry" method and the "Take a shower method". Examining another industry not only allows for innovation in seemingly separate fields by connecting them. In addition, the collaboration may connect the industries in ways that are more tangible than ideas. As for my second favorite, often some of the most creative solutions to my problems have come to me in the shower or just before bed. I don't know why the ideas come at these specific times, but that doesn't mean we can't take advantage of these times.
After taking Wolf's Colon last semester the best lesson I learned on thinking outside the box was the airplane lecture Joe Pino gave us in Intro to Sound Design. He told us about airplanes which basically defied the laws of building airplanes so they could do amazing things. The first tip about studying a different discipline is incredibly useful.
Its interesting that all of the ideas that are listed promote cross and inter disciplinary so much. As a BSA student, i get that interdisiplinary crazyness all the time, and i do find the connections and the crossover. In general, i think, the more you know about everything, the more creative ideas you can come up with. Expand your knowledge base as much as possible is the idea. I also really enjoy the "Take a shower" tip. And i would add my own- go work out. it seems to help me think clearer.
I also really like the ask a child idea. Sometimes kids come up with the craziest ideas, simply because no one has ever told them that they can't do it that way, or why it couldn't work. We often disqualify ideas before we even have them, which is not very conductive to brainstorming. Having some crazy notions inthe mix will help you reimagine them (maybe turn them upside down) and find the right one. these tips are good things to keep in mind for my next project :)
Take a shower is an incredible way to think outside the box. It works! IT does!!! But overall I agree these all work to help one think outside the box. I am glad, when I design I usually do most of this stuff. Like ask a child or take a religion class. Working this past summer with kids- they have the wildest imaginations and have the ability to create anything. Thier mind is already thinking outside the box so they are the perfect people to ask.
I think there are many other ways to think outside the box though. By building and reconstructing and doing it again can one learn more about the box and how to take it apart and put it together better then ever.
The number one tip that try to use as often as possible is to study a different field or industry. When I have to register for classes I always try to pick an elective in a different department each year. I find that this keeps me well rounded and open to different points of view. I think that we should all get out more and study other areas then we do. Its interesting that the people who work in a field that depends solely on the methods, skills, and idea of the outside world tend to ignore it.
This article wasn't really what i was expecting. Although I agree that all of these things will help one to think outside of the box, there is a possibility that these will not spark too much insight depending upon how intense the person's thoughts are at that particular time. Also, no matter what you are doing, in trying to thing within what you are thinking about, will help you think outside of your spectrum. If your already "within" it then go outside it, objectively.
Honestly, these are all good principles for life in general, not just thinking outside of the box. Most of these examples, like reading, taking a class, learning another religion, or learning another industry will broaden your spectrum of understanding both your inner workings and perhaps those of the people around you. An open mind is one of the best things to have, and I suppose that yes, it would help you think outside the box if you're a more worldly, educated person. And for me, inviting randomness is often what gets the ball rolling for my projects.
I agree with Kael. Despite the 9 comments, I'm going to comment on this anyways because I really liked this article...maybe because I often think too far outside the box, or just find myself boxed in altogether...never quite a happy medium. But anyways, my favorite is probably study another industry...i.e. be well rounded and educated. That's one of the main points I emphasized upon applying here...I wanted to learn everything about technical theatre, not just one concentration. I don't think there's anyone here, and very few successful individuals who would argue with getting a broad education. It's just common knowledge that there are threads between all industries and all areas of knowledge. Now these are just personal opinions, but I think in order to fully submerge oneself in philosophy, one should also have some foundation in physics, because it tells us how our world works in a very literal fashion. In order to understand art, one needs to understand literature. If one gets into the habit of thinking like this, one will see that everything is connected. Time for a cliche...but I think that's one of my favorite things about the world.
I think a lot of these different ideas are really great ways. I know I have used the taking the shower method to great affect tons of times, and even when I'm not thinking of anything in particular, sometimes I get something. Asking a Child is also a good idea just because sometimes you get an answer you never would of thought of, but the kid sees it in a completely different light. These are great ways to go and be creative, but by learning a new religion, understanding a different industry, these are things that can help you in the long run throughout life.
It's so important to be able to think outside of the box in any industry, but especially in ours. It's important to remember that there are many different ways of getting to an end result. I think it's really important for us to be able to look at things in many different ways, because it can also help us see where other people are coming from. If you are always thinking in your little box, then you are not going to be able to see eye to eye with other people you are working with, because their box is different than yours. I think it's a great idea to study different things because when you see how other types of people deal with problems, it can really help you find other ways of dealing.
I agree with this list. The first few suggestions are very oriented with the idea of "do something different," which is definitely a great way to not only think outside of the box on projects, but to have more interesting ideas and thoughts in general. It seems fairly obvious that someone who is not narrow-minded will be better at broadening their perspective, but this article helped to show some of the simple ways that we can all do that.
This is an interesting list of ways to loosen up and change your way of approaching a problem. It's not at all how to generate original ideas in terms of content. Our salt peanuts class was all about this. The ability to approach what many could consider a dead end and being able to work through it is something that theatre people need to have. Each show is different with its own challenges and obstacles. And being able to step back and look at art objectively is such an important skill.
I'm not really sure this list is really the best way to do that in theatre. In some business situations it might work in the theatre industry loosening and fresh approaches are already such an integrated part that we need to take things a step farther.
Therefore this list is really interesting but not very helpful to a majority of experienced theatre technicians.
I'm a fan of a lot of the solutions that life hacker proposes for thinking outside the box. Many of which I wasn't quite sure is "thinking outside the box" but I tend to do already. Turning pictures upside down was something I was already familiar with but never do, however, shower creativity is something I do seem to have, but never thought of it that way. It is hard to "think outside the box" when being specifically asked to, under pressure. Its something that seems to come more "organically" than other problem solving solutions.
Thinking outside the box is something that is not easily taught, but rather learned from experience. some tactics that drama students must emplore include taking classes outside your major and studying other industries. Having taken a computer science class, I know have some insight into programming. In the same way being in a graphic media management class is teaching me all about printing methods as well as the technology behind it. Doc taught us that we need to read plays backwards to connect concepts and ideas and look at them all in a different way. This skill can be just as useful as learning about something outside your industry.
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