Phung

Mention creativity or creative thinking and inevitably someone says it's all about thinking outside the box. This is true to a certain degree. Creativity encompasses the ability to look beyond our perspective and shift away from existing paradigm. However in reality this is harder than we think. It is not always that we have the capability or the capacity to think outside the box. Sometimes we need the box. The question we need to ask is what does this box represent?

The box may represent many things such as the values that we uphold, the vision that we have and the principles that we live by. Thinking beyond this box might not be a good option if we have to operate within a certain code of practice. This is where we need to see how we can be creative when we have to work within the ambits of the box.

The box that you are in might provide you with ample opportunities to become creative whereby you could tap into the resources that are available within and come up with new ideas and solutions to existing problems without having to go beyond the boundaries of the box.

Learn to use existing information to come up with new ideas. As George J. Seidel puts in: The ability to relate and to connect, sometimes in an odd and yet in striking fashion, lies at the very heart of any creative use of the mind, no matter in what field or discipline.

Here are some tips to Think Creatively Within the Box.

Combine and Synthesis Existing Information

Dr Myron S. Allen said: COMBINATION the essence of creative imagination. When you learn to combine information or things you might come up with new solutions and ideas. Alex Osborn said: Creativity is the production of meaning by synthesis.

There are many combinations of unrelated products and services that have created new and effective ideas. The radio was invented by an Italian Guglielmo Marconi and the telephone by an American Alexander Graham Bell. When you combine the radio and the telephone what do you get? Answer: A mobile phone!

Another example: Gregor Mendel combined the concepts of mathematics with biology to come up with a new field of science Genetics. Benjamin Franklin was put off by having to change his glasses one for reading and one for looking the distance. Why not combine the two types of lenses? Now we have the bifocal glasses.

In your workplace you can think of combining existing things or ideas to come up with something useful that might make you more productive. How about combining two different routines to see whether it shortens the time to complete the task? Keep thinking.

Manipulation of existing ideas

Sun Tzu said: Manipulation is the brother of Creativity. Sometimes instead of thinking outside the box and coming up with something completely different, you can manipulate with existing ideas to make what you have more efficient. There is a story of a barber in America who though on how to improve the laborious process of cutting hair with a shears which was slow and cramped his fingers. With a little manipulation of the existing ideas of the scissors and pliers he invented the hair clipper which barbers world over use today.

In your office take a different look at the way you are doing things. Can you manipulate any of these things to make them more efficient?

Disrupt your routine behavior occasionally

We are all culprits of routine behaviour. When we start doing things in a certain way we become entrenched in it and enter into what is called the comfort zone. There is nothing wrong being in the comfort zone. After all why change when everything is working fine Right? The only problem is that we cant guarantee that it will always be this fine. What we could do however is to see whether we can disrupt our routine behaviour occasionally to see life from a different perspective.

Try doing something different everyday. It does not have to be a drastic change. A little one will suffice. Like go to a different eatery and try a new meal. Or instead of taking the train try taking the bus. Bring one of your colleagues from another department in your organization for lunch and find out what his/her job is all about.

When you do routine things differently once in a while your Mind takes notice and you will start to look at your life from different perspective. Thus you wont get trapped in the Obvious though process. The Obvious though process is one where you think that what you are doing is the most logical way and there is nothing else to it. Such a though process stifles creativity. Henry Eyring said: A keen observer once said of Einstein that part of his genius was his inability to understand the obvious. Perhaps this is what you should do if you want to think creatively within the box.

Learn to disrupt the Obvious though process. You can achieve this by paying attention to the small and insignificant things that surrounds you by improving your observation skills. That way you will realize that there is more to creativity than meets the eye within the box itself.

Dr Daniel Theyagu is a corporate trainer and seminar leader who has designed and conducted competency-based training for more than 150 organizations. He is based in Singapore and can be reached at dtheyagu@singnet.com.sg Website: http://www.thinklaterally.com