Can You Handle Yourself Outside The Box?

Box Thinking

Friday is Thinking day at AlexShalman.Com

Today I was doing a little bit of thinking about a question posed by one of my favorite conversational bloggers, Dawud Miracle. He’s actually one of the people I met at SOBCon07.
I was reading his blog, as usual, except this time I was compelled to write about a question he has posed: are you thinking outside the box? While I am interested in the answer to this question, I am more interested in what you will do once you do get out of the box.

We’ll define the box as a structured, confined, habitual environment that offers security and comfort. Within this realm of thought, you live each day as the day before, you work towards an established goal, by doing what you did before. Besides for the confinement aspect, this doesn’t seem to be too bad of a deal. Well, maybe not.

One way of thinking will lead you to the conclusion that staying within your box, and your comfort zone will not only prevent you from growing, but prevent you from discovering new ideas. Dawud gets that “you have to think outside your norms to find change.” However, he still takes comfort in being within the box.

Dawud describes his experiences outside of the box:

There were no boundaries, only wide-open spaces. No responsibilities, no deadlines, and no structure. Just unabated freedom.

However, soon after that, he felt bored and decided to return to the box. This is what got me thinking. Why would he return to the box and how could we prevent the return to the box? What philosophy could we adopt in order to remain as out of the box thinkers?

Why Be Outside The Box?

To quote my friend Brian Kim:

Doing something that breaks you free from your daily routine invokes

literally a million different possibilities that can ensue, which can chain

react into an opportunity you never thought you would get.

If you always do what you do, you’ll always get what you get.

Throw in a little curveball there once in a while and see what new

ideas, experiences and thoughts will manifest.

You can subscribe to Brian’s newsletter, where he sends me such nuggets of wisdom on a daily basis, by visiting BrianKim.net.

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isabella mori

isabella mori said on September 17th, 2007 at 12:06 pm

i’ve lived most of my life outside the box; for me, being in the box is “outside the box”. a challenge all in itself. in this context, it’s always interesting to ask oneself, does the discomfort outside of the box result simply from lack of familiarity, which would be something worth enduring for a while – or does it stem from literally going against one’s innermost nature, which is something i wouldn’t recommend doing too often.

your post also reminds me of a friend of mine, an artist who for many years worked in a very boring job. he committed himself to doing at least three things differently every day in his job, and if it was just something simple such as walking down a different street when going home.
Alex Shalman

Alex Shalman said on September 17th, 2007 at 12:14 pm

That’s an interesting concept, that staying inside the box could just be someone’s innermost nature. It’s something I would battle with, and might not realize.

As far as your friend doing something different each day… I love that idea!

In my post why is goal achievement so fulfilling? I wrote:

3. Connect with people. Use 15 minutes to call one relative, friend or acquaintance that you don’t talk to on a regular basis to check up on them. They’ll be happy that you care, and you’ll be happy that they’re happy.

It’s a similar concept, about talking to someone different each day. Variety is the spice of life, or so they say?
Dawud Miracle

Dawud Miracle said on September 18th, 2007 at 9:52 am

Hey brother. Nice post…

I answered your post on my blog this morning. I directly challenged the notion that we can live outside boxes at all. I don’t feel we can. There’s always some limitation on us.

But does that mean we shouldn’t strive to grow? Of course not. Rather, it means we have to keep stretching ourselves again and again – building ever bigger boxes.

Check out my answer