Out of the Box thinking

My son is lost, have you seen him? My son is lost, have you seen him? My mother was screaming asking every passer-by. My sister was shouting and asking all our neighbours. My father was called on his office landline. Some of the helping neighbours were sent to nearby locations to look for me. All my friends were asked about my whereabouts. I was not traceable at all My so-called tiny girlfriend started crying because she was missing her play partner. Everyone was in a dire state, except one. Guess who?

               Hey, it's me ... I was playing in the newly found playground, this ground was larger than what we have nearby, At least 4 teams were playing cricket over there and every fielder is guessing and running behind their balls. It was huge for me. I was totally engrossed in admiring the large size of the ground. I was imagining, what would be the situation if my friends were with me. I was eager to pass on this information, I was enjoying the new place, I have thought of this new place and came out of the comfort zone. I have thought out of the box and so I am enjoying the new view of the king-size ground. Thud!

               Thinking out of the box is the buzz word in the business for the last 2 decades. As per Wikipedia the definition of Out of Box thinking is a metaphor used for thinking differently, in conventionally, or from a new perspective. Some of the other terms are lateral thinking, Creative thinking, Out of square thinking. This term feels appealing to hear and they become giant when we are told to implement them. People freezes.  

               How to think, Out of BOX? I would like to suggest a few ways to do the same.

1.      Spend time with a 10year kid – Explain to them the challenge and they will come with a solution with a very different perspective. Here you should be able to explant in their terms. It is said, if you are not able to explain your challenge to a child, that means, you need to know more about the challenge 

2.      Take a different route – Purposefully take a different route to your workplace and analysis the thought process of the mind, your lateral brain can analyze the Creative brain.

3.      Visit Woods – Visit a natural place and ask the nature, you will get the solution, Caution – don't take your mobile.

4.      Bonded writing – Try to write the solution on a piece of paper with a time-bound say 30 minutes. Think about that challenge and you will get a lot of solutions. Just write it, no analysis at this stage, don’t think about how? Caution – Keep writing till the time ends.

5.      Read books – There are many books available in the market to train your brain to think laterally. You can pick on of them and nurture you brain.

6.       Ask – Why & Why not – If you are in the middle of the challenge, then start asking why are you following the process, why this method? Why this way? These questions must be followed by Why not this method, why not this process, Is there any other way?

7.      Change the product or process – If you are in the business of welding, then think what the different ways of joining process. If you in the business of Refrigerator and think about the improvement in TV and then co-relate the ideas with your product. For e.g., Why refrigerator must be on the ground, why not hang on the wall like TV? This will save our floor space.

Let me put a practical example of today (18-08-2020, 06:15, IST), while writing this article.

In our home, there are 3 generations and each one wants to see the TV channels of their own choice. Daughter: Cartoon, Wife: Netflix, Grandmother: Master chef America. What's the solution? Many of us are facing this and we have a conforming solution, Hand over Tablet to Daughter, Laptop to wife, and TV to Grandmother.  Easy, Isn’t it?

        How about an OOB (Out of the box) solution? I asked myself and here my creative brain presented to me. Why not, we have a TV Screen, which can be split into multiple channels and everyone sees their preferred channels with their Blue tooth Headset for each split channel.  

Wow, such ideas are called OOBs, I don’t know, this idea may be in the Design, proto or Production stage of some of the TV manufacturers. Someone has rightly said, Ask and it shall be given to you.

      Thud! This is what I got on my back. The new playground was on the way of my dad's Office and while coming home on an urgent basis, he noticed me and brought me home. This will happen to you as well whenever you think out of the box, but keep on thinking, keep creating. The fun of being on a new idea is like being on 7 skies.