Think outside the box -
what a stupid approach
Tim Connor
If I hear
one more person say “We need to think outside the box.” I am going to throw
up. This is not the answer to your
challenges or problems – it’s a myth.
Let me explain.
I am sure
you have – said it, heard it or at some point tried to figure out exactly what
does this mean. What does it mean – try
something new, try seeming different, stop doing things the same ways – etc
etc.
What is
thinking outside the box exactly? Is it
modifying current techniques or approaches in some way or just tweaking what
isn’t working?
There are
three things you need to ask when something isn’t working; how isn’t it
working, why isn’t it working and what would working look like? Until you get honest answers to these
questions – forget the box.
Until you
have reality based answers to these three basic questions you can’t move on to
the next step and it isn’t thinking outside the box and why not? In a nutshell;
First of all
what is the box? It’s a paradigm, a way
of looking at things the way you always have for whatever reasons; comfort,
ease, convenience or political correctness etc. Keep in mind that these
rationales are yours only and don’t necessarily represent what’s good, right,
better or the best and you have them for a reason - most likely because you are
used to them.
Here’s the
problem with the idea of thinking outside the box.
Something
isn’t working so you need to change something.
So you try something new or different (out of the box). It doesn’t work for whatever reason and now
you have a choice, keep trying new or different things hoping for better
results but nothing still seems to work so your next choice will normally be to
“jump back in the box.” Bad idea. It wasn’t working before you jumped out of
the box, so why do you think it will work better now after trying new
things/approaches that didn’t work out to your expectations, needs or desires? So - it’s back to what was and why? Well, even though it didn’t work before at least
it was more comfortable and familiar than the lack of success you had with new
approaches.
The other
problem is that when you think outside the box what do you think you will tend
to bring to new attempts? The memory of
past mistakes, previous assumptions, desired expectations and the experiences
you had while trying to make the past work.
Trust me, I
can’t tell you how many times I have tried to think outside the box because
something wasn’t working but in reality, I didn’t need to start all over but
just analyze a few simple things. I
know, you can say “Well, Tim, that’s thinking outside the box.” Sorry. Thinking outside the box implies a new
start.
Ask any
inventor and they will tell you that when something isn’t working it doesn’t
mean they have to begin again with something new.
But here’s
another way to look at this. Throw the
box away when something isn’t working.
So when you try something new and if it doesn’t work there is no box you
can jump back into. You have to make the
new approach(s) work better than what you were used to doing.
Edison,
Gates, Jobs and hundreds of others did one of two things when something wasn’t
working – analyze, evaluate and reconsider or they threw the box away and began
again.
When you
throw the box away it doesn’t mean you can’t take the lessons, learning and
experience from previous stuff but that you leave behind the need to stay
comfortable with something old.
Everything
can be better. Anything can be
improved. The problem is that far too
many people settle for what is working even though it could be far better if
they would let go of their need for approval of others, ego, the fear of
failure or the need to have it right the first time.
I’ll
guarantee you that NASA, The Center for Disease Control and any organization
didn’t achieve the success they desired the first time they tried something and
that on many occasions they had to start again leaving behind the effort,
resources and time invested in what didn’t work.
Throw the
box away!
