F the Box

Now that Everyone is Thinking “Outside the Box,” What’s Next?

“If everyone has to think outside the box, maybe it’s the box that needs fixing.”
— Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point

F THE BOX.

Do you think outside the box? Yeah, so does everyone else.

Rather than thinking in terms of boxes and inside and outside of them, I believe the time has come to think in terms of CIRCLES, and instead of inside and outside of them, using overlapping layers or concentric circles, so ideas can bounce off each other or intersect or combine with each other to become new ideas, relative to each other or on their own.

There was a time when “thinking outside the box” meant doing something unorthodox, or unconventional. The mere act of thinking outside the box itself was unorthodox or unconventional. But at some point, just like everything else, people begin to take notice of what’s working and that unorthodox strategy ultimately becomes orthodox; the unconventional ultimately becomes conventional, and now EVERYONE is thinking outside the box, thus creating more boxes to get stuck thinking within.

So if the whole world is now thinking outside the box, where do we go for fresh, new ideas?

There are two unorthodox possibilities — 1.) start thinking INSIDE the box again, which might make sense in some situations, or 2.) obliterate the box entirely and rather than thinking in terms of inside and outside, think in terms of layers — on top of and under, or around, a core concept. This gives DEPTH to your thinking in addition to the linear dimension of inside/outside the box thinking. It also cuts the corners, so there’s no where to get stuck!

It’s like comparing Microsoft Paint to Photoshop. In Paint, you’re limited to creating one layer (the box) and the selection of tools outside it. There’s only so much you can do within the box and outside of it to create an end result, or bring your idea to fruition, so you’re very limited.

In Photoshop, however, there are no limits. You can create infinite layers, adding depth to your idea. You can add layers within layers, group layers, or merge layers; melding individual ideas into one. You can add effects, or even create new effects. There are an infinite number of tools and plug-ins. And you can easily import and export all or portions of your idea to another idea, infinitely. Bottom line, the possibilities with Photoshop are endless compared to Paint.

Why circles? Boxes can create layers and overlap as well, but that only works well in one dimension. When you start thinking in terms of circles, overlapping concentric circles, and adding depth, those circles become spheres or bubbles. Remember blowing bubbles when you were a kid and how easily bubbles could meld together? Same concept. Your ideas become bubbles floating in space, bouncing off each other (hey, let’s bounce a few ideas around!) and with the right circumstances, they collide or combine to form bigger, double bubbles, or they can break up and spin-off a series of smaller bubbles. All of that’s a lot harder to picture with cubes.

Think of your thoughts and ideas as circles, but as you add layers, they’re not necessarily one directly on top of the other — that would only create a tube. No, you have to think of those layers as centered AROUND an axis, or a core concept — like a rubber band ball — and once you’ve put the right amount of thought into it, you’re left with one solid BIG IDEA you can project.

Yeah, there’s more to it, and I’m still working out the theory, but so far, since thinking in terms of circles/spheres/bubbles rather than boxes, I find I’m much more creative, and I’m able to execute ideas faster and more effectively than ever before. I’m no longer limited to thinking in terms of inside/outside, black/white, on/off, opposite, contrary, or in spite of, to create a result.

Now my ideas have depth. Some intersect. Others stand alone. All are relative in some way to each other. I think in terms of overlapping concepts and finding common cores, so I can execute more ideas faster.

I’ve created this visual to illustrate:

To illustrate, I can be working on Idea Blue, the Big Idea, which is supported by Supporting Ideas (or thoughts) Red & Yellow — the intersection of which creates the Core Concept at the center of Idea Blue. From Idea Red, I also spin-off Idea Green, an idea OUTSIDE and totally separate from Idea Blue but still relative to it by way of Idea Red. And now the intersection of Ideas Red and Green create Another Big Idea, Idea Cyan.

At the other end of the spectrum, Idea Yellow spins-off Idea Orange, which is directly relative to Idea Blue, so the intersection of Ideas Blue, Yellow, and Orange create yet another Core Concept, this one relative to the Big Idea, Idea Blue.

To execute any idea — that is to CREATE something, or transmute that idea into a physical equivalent — you need three things:

• time,
• energy, and
• resources.

Where all of these ideas intersect or overlap, you have commonality, or shared features or attributes. Those shared features and attributes also share the same time, energy, and resources required to execute their common ideas.

That said, you’ve positioned your ideas in such a way as to execute them in the fastest and most efficient way possible, thus maximizing your time, energy, and resources to accomplish more with roughly the same expenditure.

Sounds great in theory, right? Well, give it a try. Take out a sheet of paper, and dead center, draw a circle the size of a half dollar and write a main idea in the middle of it. Now start thinking of all the ancillary thoughts and ideas that support your main idea, or that give it value or merit. Create spin-off circles that intersect with the main idea and write-in your ancillary, supporting ideas. Some of your supporting ideas may spin off yet other ideas, and so on. It’s a lot more fun than simply writing a list or making an outline, and it’s much more visual. You’ll actually SEE your idea expand right before your eyes. You can even grab some colored pencils or crayons and incorporate colors into it like I did.

Remember, thoughts are things. They have dimension, they have depth. When combined, they form ideas. If you’re just writing thoughts or ideas on paper, you’re merely LISTING them in one dimension. You’re limiting yourself to that linear format.

Instead, by creating this visual that shows your thoughts in layers, relative to each other, you can stretch them, or skew them, and allow them to overlap and combine to create new ideas. This creates depth, adds dimension, and brings them to life like a 3D movie, and we all know that the CLEARER we can visualize an idea, the better able we are to MATERIALIZE it.

When you’re done, draw one big circle around all of it, and you now have one Big Idea — or you may find you have created SEVERAL new, big ideas!

Bottom line, you just changed the way you think. You approached it differently, certainly unorthodox or unconventionally, but unlike inside/outside the box thinking, this probably felt more natural.

• When we talk about brainstorming for ideas, we use terms like “the gears are turning,” or “the wheels are spinning.”
• When we read a comic strip, thoughts are always inside bubbles.
• When a problem has you stumped for a solution, it DRIVES you crazy.
• Brain waves, sound waves, they all travel in concentric circles.
• Even the little symbol for infinity — the lemniscate — is two circles combined, denoting infinite possibilities.

The most compact object in the universe is a sphere. As chunks of space rock spin, they create gravitational heat and pressure that ultimately turns them into spheres, or into planets. Ideas are the same — chunks of thought SPUN to create circles, bubbles, spheres that bounce off each other, or overlap and combine to create bigger spheres, and bigger ideas. Like planets, they also revolve around an axis — a core concept.

Even a square, a box, a cube, over time, if you spin it, it will ultimately become a sphere.

See, it’s just more natural to think in terms of circles and get your head spinning, rather than boxes and just be a blockhead. No offense, Creepers.

I call this concept my Creative Axis Theory, wherein all ideas are spheres of condensed thoughts individually and collectively orbiting their core concepts — or axis — concentrically, as well as eccentrically, intersecting with other ideas’ orbits, and sometimes colliding, or combining, to create even bigger and better ideas.

Did you get that?

In other words, we each have our own Creative Axis — our own unique Solar System of ideas — that when combined with others who think similarly, transcend to create even larger Idea Galaxies, and then ultimately, Universal Ideas.

Creative Axis Theory can be applied to multiple disciplines, for example, social media. In the example above, Idea Blue (the Big Idea) could also represent a particular Hashtag — or core Topic.

Supporting Ideas Red and Yellow would be comments or thoughts centered on that hashtag or core topic, and spinning off their own, new core topics, both within the realm of the initial topic (i.e., Idea Orange), thus broadening that topic, or beyond it (i.e., Idea Green), thus creating an entirely new topic relative to the original.

Again, it’s easier to think of these ideas or thoughts as circles, spheres, or bubbles, revolving around their core topics, bouncing off each other, crossing orbits, and sometimes colliding or combining to form new topics.

It just makes the whole thought process — the whole creative process — seem more organic.

But then again, what do I know? It’s all just a theory.

That said, F the Box.

— P.

Phil Autelitano is the CEO of Mediarazzi — we develop TV channels and content for Roku. www.mediarazzi.com @PhilAutelitano