Think Outside the Box

Creativity and Innovation

Thinking outside the box will could result in a highly increased income for both individuals and corporations. To think outside the box, and to act outside the box demans creativity and innovation.

• Creativity is a term with more than one hundred different definitions, but here I simply define creativity as a term that refers to the mental processes that results in the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.
• Innovation is a term that refers to the generation of new (and possibly creative) ideas, and then successfully exploit those new ideas.

When thinking outside the box you will need to be creative and to make use of those thoughts you will also need to use innovation.

You've Been Thought Not To Be Creative

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson define creativity as:

"...original ideas that have value".

As humans I have the ability to develop our creativity skills. Sadly, most education systems all over the world fail to recognize and cultivate the talents of many brilliant people. Actually, you may have some extraordinary -- yet undeveloped -- creative skills. Robinson gives a great talk about how schools kill creativity... watch the seminar here.

Nine Dots Puzzle

Thinking outside the box... the orgin of this catchphrase is somewhat unknown, but it might be related to the socalled nine dots puzzle.

The challenge of this puzzle is to connect the dots by drawing four straight lines without lifting the pen from the paper. It's easy to solve the puzzle once you see how it's done, but you have to draw the lines outside of the square area of the nine dots.

Now, here's a challange for you: Try to solve the nine dots puzzle, but this time you're only allowed to draw three continous straight lines, without lifting the pen from the paper. Is it possible? Oh yes. But this time you really have to think outside the box... You can find the solution at the bottom of this page, but try to solve it yourself before you look.

Leonardo da Vinci and YOU

Leonardo da Vinci, the Tuscan polymath, the inventor, the architect, the scientist, the painter, the engineer, the anatomist, the mathematician, the sculptor, the botanist, the musician and the writer.

Not is he only known for his paintings Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, but he was also conceptualising a helicopter, a tank, and many other machines. He was the first person to concentrate solar power, and he created the first scientific calculator.

Obviously, da Vinci had some extraordinary skills. However, unlike most people, he was revarded for his creativity.

If you feel that you lack creativity skills, it's not because you don't have them (you do), but it's because you have not learned the benefits of using your creativity.

Once you see the connection between creativity, innovation and a huge set of benefits, we'd bet you will increase your creativity skills and use them in ways you could never dream of.

Most of us have been thought to think in certain ways, and outside-the-box-thinking has not been rewarded. However, you're a WebMoneyGuy member basically because you want to make a lot of money online. From now on, try your best to see the connection between creative effort and how much money you make. You might not see it right away, but once you do, it'll truly blow you away.

Do Something Different

A great way to think outside the box is to look at what everyone else is doing, and do something different.

The great thing about creativity, is that it can lead to enduring growth in revenue or capital as creative products and (some) services are protected by intellectual property laws.

Markus Frind is one of many entrepreneurs who have succeeded with creative thinking. He did what nobody else was doing. He did something completely different in the online dating industry. Frind identified what all dating sites had in common. At the time he launched his free dating site there was only one site that was worth mentioning that was free, and that was his site, PlentyOfFish.com.

Markus Frind was the first. The first to provide a free online dating service that was big enough to compete with paid dating sites. He's making money like crazy, and could probably sell the site for twenty million instantly. The most amazing thing though: Plentyoffish is the largest dating site in the world, and its still run out of Markus' apartment. He claims that his 100% Free dating site have the highest quality members of any dating site, and considering his honesty and passion for the dating industry, I do not doubt him. Great job!

Do The Never

A great way to begin a creative thought process is to follow the advice of marketing guru Seth Godin: Do the never

Figure what the always is. Then do something else.

Toothpaste always comes in a squeezable tube.
Business travelers always use a travel agent.
Politicians always have their staff screen their calls.

Figure out what the always is, then do exactly the opposite. Do the never.

What's the commonality for products in your industry? Identify them, and do your best to figure out what's different.

Tools and Resources for Creative Thinking And Innovation

Honestly, you don't need a lot of tools to develop your creative skills and innovate new things. All you really need is to be determined about thinking outside the box, and believe that such thinking will be rewarded. However, if you insist that you do need some tools to get started, here's a few external resources you could use:

• Online
  • Creating Minds - provides you with real and useful principles, tools, articles and quotes about all matters around being creative and using creativity.
  • Pick the Brain - great blog about Motivation; Productivity; Psychology; Money; Health; and Education.
  • Buzan World - website of Tony Buzan, the father of mindmapping.
  • Innovation Links Directory - directory with one of the largest online collections of hand-picked innovation, creativity and brainstorming links.
• Books
  • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins
  • Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out by Douglas Rushkoff
  • How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day by Michael J. Gelb
  • Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono
  • Making Innovation Work : How to Manage It, Measure It, and Profit from It by Tony Davila, Marc Epstein, Robert Shelton

Answer to Nine Dots Puzzle, v.2

Remember the challange I gave you? Did you manage to solve the nine dots puzzle using only three straight lines? Solution here