How can we think out of box??

Every person has his own way of thinking, his own viewpoint and it is built over a period of time influenced by his upbringing. Different people process the same information differently, they take out the relevant stuff from it and leave the rest, and as we know relevance is very relative term. I had mentioned the same phenomenon some time back in my other post on Applied economics.

I was reading some article today and was annoyed, anguished and astounded by the use of term ‘Creativity’. I don’t understand what the phrase ‘think out of box’ would really mean. I don’t think we can think of changing our thinking ideology. This would subdue our whole existence itself. I can understand that some people might have some perception about a thing and it sounds quite radical to others who might say that it is certainly out of the blue or ‘out of the box’.

Then later as I sat pondering over this issue I realized I was wrong seeing the problem. Issue is that a society is quite large and when there is a task at hand, the people at large of the society shall have same methodology towards the solution because of their common culture and upbringing. It is here that some different approach is desired and when they come up with something is when it is said to be ‘out of the box’.

So how can we think out of the box is the question now. It is certainly not easy, since it is like going against our nature itself. It will more often than not confront with our already set notions. One of the ways for sure could be to go backwards. Let us start from the desired result itself. Let us put ourselves in the place of the beneficiary (for whom we seek the solution) and imagine accordingly. When we do this we have detached from our own self and hence there are no boundaries that we have when we think as ourselves. The beneficiary might not have the same restrictive boundaries as mine and hence when I think as him, I am free of the same and therefore there is a wider wing span of imagination possible. When we think backward there is a certainty of goal which is not there while thinking straight and hence the effort is dispersed. However when we think backwards, we already have the goal stated and hence we know the end result. It is said that when goals are in sight, roads leading to them are made on their own.

Do you agree with above? What else could be good ways for ‘thinking out of box’?