Think out of the box

Working technology industry requires me to design new components, modules, general 'stuff'. There is competition from all around, not too intense but make its presence felt from time to time, and that puts some pressure on me to come up with something new, something innovative, something not seen before by my boss. The oft repeated suggestion, guidance, is to "think out of the box". The phrase has been bludgeoned to death in the few years that I've been in the industry.

This is a myth. Nobody thinks "out of the box". They are merely forced to expand the boundaries of their box. May be even jump into a new box. The moment it grows bigger than everybody else’s way of thinking, the results you produce, the suggestion you make during meetings, is labelled "out of the box". All you've done is to do something the others could not think of.

Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty were great as action heroes (Phool aur Kaante, Khiladi, Balwaan). They switched to comedy, romantic, meaty character roles (Zakhm, Dil to Pagal Hai, Hera Pheri) when their action heroes produced lukewarm responses at the box office. Aamir Khan, Salman Khan initially succeeded acting in romantic/comedy roles (QSQT, Meine Pyaar Kiya) but gained popularity when they played action heroes (Baazi, Karan Arjun). There are examples in other fields as well where somebody refuses to stick to the stereotype and becomes a success.

People constantly trying something fresh, expand their horizons, and go out of their peer's boxes, not their own. If you think of something new, the chances of that thought being used repeatedly, till it becomes boring to yourself, are very high. That’s when your box has expanded and you move on to something else to cure the boredom.

Thinking out of the box is a myth. Expanding the box is the reality.