A friend asked me : How can I think out of the box ?

I have heard this term thousand of times before, think outside the box... and I keep trying to think but it seems that this thinking is inside the box, proof ? all these thoughts are neither applicable nor creative.

So creativity, how can somebody be creative, what is creativity... well, when I viewed over the past models of success and creativity, I find that these ideas are indeed creative, some are very complex, others are just too simple that you can't help but yelling why didn't I think of that, but what I actually found in common, these guys knows what they are talking about, they know their problems, they know their target, and they know too well about the boundaries and obstacles surrounding them.

So what is really thinking outside the box,

"It is in the question you find the answer"

Think outside the bad practices, physical boundaries, social-norms all these factors that force our limitation and stop us from reaching our ultimate goal.

So what do you do ...

you have to define the problem, and then the box...

Knowing that the box is the limits and the boundaries that are forced by habits, bad practices or maybe physical or mental obstacles that stand in front of you and your ultimate target.

So once you know & understand the box pretty much, these limits and obstacles, you can actually try evading or eliminating these obstacles in your model. thus thinking out of the box, that invisible boundaries people surround themselves with.

Remember the box is ever expanding and is never defined by true boundaries we can only try to move one step ahead of it.

The more you know and get familiar with your problem, the more you know it's weaknesses and the more you can "become" creative in solving it.

It is a gift I can not deny that, but we all have it... it all depends how much are we dedicated to our cause.