New Thinking for 2013
by Miki Saxon
We’re fast coming up on a new year.
New ways of thinking can open up new opportunities.
So try this new way of thinking, rather than a bunch of New Year’s resolutions that may not last out the month.
Everybody has a box.
That’s right and no matter how hard you try you’ll never really think outside it.
Heresy? No.
The idea that boxes are bad is a function of how you interpret them.
It’s not the box that matters, but its size and how you address that.
Steve Jobs’ and Steven Spielberg’s boxes are immense, far larger than most, yet they both continue to enlarge them.
And therein lays one of the secrets of creativity, whether in an individual or organization.
It’s not about “thinking outside the box,” it’s about understanding your box and how to enlarge it.
Because that’s how it works.
As soon as you get outside your own box, a new one forms.
Once you totally use up its content and find its sides you go outside that box; a new one forms and the process begins again.
If you work at it, this process continues throughout your life—although some never start and some get comfortable in a certain box and retain it.
But the most wonderful thing about boxes is that it’s always your choice—within your control to make it happen.
There will always be a box, but with effort you can enlarge it enough to encompass galaxies—and even entire universes.
It’s all yours for the choosing.
Have you hugged (and enlarged) your box lately?
Flickr image credit: NASA
