Can 'outside the box' thinking be learned?

I think it has a lot to do with whether you're a leader or a follower.

Do you copy what others are doing or are you creatively looking for your own solutions?

For me, that's the difference.

Can you learn it? Probably, because of you try to be creative instead of watching what others are doing, you're kind of forced into it.

That's my take anyway.

Cheers,

Neil

Two books by Dr. Roger Von Oech -

"A Whack On The Side Of The Head" and "A Kick In The Seat Of Ther Pants"

They were large paperback books 8x11 - on the market 20+ years ago. Still available at Amazon and elsewhere.

His website is http://www.creativethink.com I am not an affiliate.

:-Don

Hey Matt,

Good questions. There are different experiences that can be described
in the terms you expressed. I also feel there are many paths that can
lead to an 'outside the box' thinking moment.

To try and answer your question of can it be learned... I believe a person
can create the internal environment that will have a higher likelihood of
producing that kind of thinking.

Here are some qualities that I feel contribute:

open mind
mental/intellectual flexibility
ability to relax both physically and psychologically
sense of curiosity and wonder
being less judgmental
willingness to go against the norms
sense of confidence
creativity

Those are just a few qualities that come to mind.

Another powerful behavior is the desire to create even if that
creativity involves solving business problems. Creativity occurs
in many forms.

It seems to me the primary determinant results from many qualities
that can occur naturally in a person's personality. Some are more
naturally inclined to exhibit that kind of thinking. But I also believe
the mind is extremely powerful. A person can decide they want to
cultivate that kind of thinking, and then proceed to do things that
can make it happen.


Ken

From the time that kids start school, we are taught to "Sit Down and Shut UP!!!!!" This type of mental conditioning suppresses free thought and creative thinking.

If you can get past the bonds that society has put on you, your good to go.

As for learning "out of the box" thinking, first, I think you have to be de-programmed.

I agree with some here, learning to think out of the box really depends on your ability to lead and/or follow. Sure, it can be learned, but not everyone will have the capacity to fully comprehend or apply thinking outside the box.

It is sort of like looking at the micro and macro aspects of economy. There are many who specialize in the micro aspects and how each individual influences a city's economic structure. Those economists may not fully grasp the complete macro picture.

An even easier comparison is looking at a glass half empty as oppose to half full. In my book, all of these analogies overlap and help shape a leader, one who CAN think outside the box instead of looking at the micro aspect of things.

Uff... Did I just complicate myself a little too much? LOL... Well, at least that is the way I describe thinking outside the box. It is these types of questions that really get the best out of the expert IMers... Thanks for making us think outside the box.

"Thinking outside the box" cannot be trained, like many other personal skills: either you have them or you don't. That's one of the reasons as of why not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur.

It can be learned by some people.

It definitely cannot be taught. You can't force a way of thinking onto someone else, no matter how great it seems.

Some people genuinely don't want to leave the box because it seems unsafe on the outside, so what can you do right?

Thinking outside of the box requires the ability to discover failure, feel frustration, be disappointed with your 100th attempt at fixing a problem but not beat yourself up over it to much and because that big F (failure) word is closely related many people are scared to work outside of the box. who wants to be a failure right ? yet you can not achieve greatly with out being prepared to fail greatly.

Once people understand it is OK to fail / get things wrong then living outside of that box becomes easy, i would say that 90% of the stuff i do is outside of the box, and i accept that will make many mistakes with this path, but it also keeps life interesting.

If you are prepared to say i got it wrong then yes you can do it.

I think our style of thinking is the result of our environment in large part... so yeah it can be learned if you are around it enough. If you dont have it naturally you gotta hang around people who do... and like a southern accent... you will pick it up.

Its an inherent gene, you are either born with it or not.

However there is about 1% of the population that can learn to develop such an aspect, however it requires intense training and usually a life event to make someone think or act differently.

I think most of the time it's just a bi-product of passion. Sometimes you might come up with a great idea, almost by luck, but when you are passionate about something your brain don't switch off much. Creative thinking is in everybody as long as they are interested in a subject enough.

Over time you have so much going on in your head that you have regular little epiphanies, most of them don't seem so good when you give them some thought but once in a while a good idea pops out.

If you are fairly new to something then you don't have a lot of experience or information to work with so your chances of that happening are slimmer, but when you do, IMO, thinking outside the box is basically a one person brainstorming session that almost never stops, on autopilot. Every now and then something pops out that's worth persuing.

I think if you never stop wanting to learn more and seek out new things, that might be the only requirement ... but you need to love it!

I think if you keep your mind open and not restrict it to one rigid/old strategy/idea, you will definitely start thinking outside the box.

However, you have to make sure that your mind has a "spam filter" that separates the weed from the wheat so that you don't end up thinking "offside" the box.

This reminds me of an old joke:

Q. How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?

A. One, but the light bulb has to want to change.

I believe that with enough dedication and perseverance one can adopt any mental quality they choose to.

This may not reach as far as becoming a great mathematician, but learning ways or modes of thinking is within anybody's reach.

Ultimately learning the think outside the box comes down to one major thing: Courage

The reason I say this is that it's nice and safe inside the box. You know exactly where the walls are and there's plenty of shelter.

But outside the box you don't know where the walls are, where the shelter is, and you have to accept you might fall off the edge at any time.

You have to be willing to say the magic words:

"I was wrong"

and

"I don't know"

These magic words often stick in the throat, but exploring new ways of thinking requires the acceptance of mistakes.

If you can take that in your stride and be prepared to challenge yourself, you can learn to think in any way you choose.

I think that it can be learned through experience.

Let me make myself as an example. When I started online, I simply follow what other people are doing. When they give me a guide, I just do it step by step. I will not say that it did not work. It did but it is so much better when I learned to think outside the box.

In each guide, there is always something that people are not saying. This is usually where their creativity kicks in. Usually, they will not reveal their niche or the specific things they have done. So if you can fill these gaps with your own ideas, that will make the process complete.

So this is thinking outside the box for me. It is like testing and tracking and eventually stumbling upon a unique method that works.

Honestly, some people just 'get it' and others dont.

Of course it can be taught. Unlike DeBono, this book is full of practial, how-to techniques:
Amazon.com: Pop!: Stand Out in Any Crowd (9781615595563): Sam…

"Thinking outside the box" is really finding solutions to problems, other than the first solution that comes to mind, especially if that same solution readily comes to the minds of other people you discuss the problem with.

The society you grow up in affects the way you respond to problems. As most people feel a need to belong (tribe), they tend to follow the path of least resistance and to seek agreement and confirmation, to use "safe", tried and tested methods.

To think outside the box you must follow the example of those "outsiders" in society. Now this may sound a little bit strange, but please bear with me and try this for yourself.

Normally our problem solving is dominated by the brain's logic functions. To think outside the box you need to bring them in balance with the more creative right brain processes. One way the ancients (Druids) used to bridge this gap was by the use of poetry. I said this was going to sound a little bit strange!

Now although you may feel a little bit silly, write a poem about the problem you are trying to solve. You do not have to write a poem about the solution, just the the problem itself. This will shift your thinking away from the logic dominated parts of the brain, you have been conditioned to use and let you start using the more creative parts of your mind. As your thinking becomes more free, you will be surprised to find creative solutions just popping up into your mind. Do not choose one but make a list of as many as you can. Then work through the list, using your "logic" to evaluate the best solution.

Okay it sounds a bit silly but try it and see. Anyway, getting used to feeling "silly" is another way of breaking your conditioning and learning to think outside the box!

I believe, this skill is like a special gift.

We can share this special gift with others but the sense will be different. Others may get the benefits from the gift physically, but they will get nothing for the mind satisfaction since it was given specifically for us

Outside the box thinking is probably tied in with intelligence. We are born with a potential intelligence range that varies from person to person. This is a scientific fact that won't be going mainstream anytime soon since society likes to believe that everyone is created equal.

I really like the quote: "you must live outside the box to be able to think outside the box". It equally applies to life and business...

It is like someone who is completely untrained in engineering coming across a bunch of engineers trying to solve a problem and this unknown making a suggestion which solves their problem.

It was "outside of the box" thinking because the person was already outside the box. To think outside the box, you have to completely remove yourself from the problem. Outside of closed environment of your thinking when in the box, then you have to look at the problem afresh.

Until you actually remove yourself from the problem the chances are you will always be stuck on the inside.

I think it's a qualtiy that can be learned but would work better being taught from an early age.

On the other hand though I do think that certain people can "think outside the box" better than others!

From an early age though people are taught to get a great education...go to college...go to university...get a good job...and work their way through a business until they can finally retire.. so many people just think that this is the normal and right thing to do and don't really see/want any other options.

I believe it's often why a lot of the richest people in the world have little education/are drop outs because they are forced to "think outside the box" and be different to "the normal"

:-)