Wait, what? Think inside the box? Is this a typo or what? Isn’t it ‘think outside the box’?
Apparently, Aadil Vora thinks it’s not. He means it right. His advice on creativity is to ‘think inside the box’. He also calls it ‘the box strategy’.
My Grabfood and foodpanda experience
Since the pandemic begun, I have mostly been relying on Grabfood and foodpanda, the two biggest food delivery apps in the Philippines. Every single time I planned to order my food, I end up in either of the two scenarios: (1) I get overwhelmed with so many choices and I end up spending a lot of time just browsing and not ordering at all, or (2) ordering something usual and familiar to me, like McDonald’s or any popular fast food.
Grabfood and foodpanda are the two things on my mind when Aadil Vora was explaining the box strategy, of how to think inside the box. When we are presented with so many choices, we tend to be overwhelmed and not be creative in deciding something. And wtf, if totally makes sense!
It reminded me of what Tina Seelig about the value of resources in nourishing creativity.
Imposing limitations give us guidelines. Having too much or even infinite options makes us stuck. It hinders us from being resourceful and creative.
Wait, I’m doing something like this already! My one-sentence journal!
Having one sentence journal forced me to be creative about what sentence to share in my public journal. it allowed me to make choices as to which part of my thought process and experiences in a certain day I think I could share. And looking at the bigger picture, it looks less lame than my other free-flowing projects where I don’t really impose limitations.
Perhaps thinking out of the box is becoming obsolete? Or maybe it’s no longer applicable all the time. Sometimes all it takes is to think inside of the box.