Think outside the box

Have you learned about thinking of solutions instead of problems? Does it feel right? Nope? I thought so. How can you think of solutions if you cannot think about the underlying problem. Solutions are sometimes hard to find, even when the problem is clear.

Einstein once said: "Solutions should be as simple as possible, but not simpler". 

Almost all solutions are simple if you can understand the problem. But finding the right solution is a discipline itself. There are all kinds of laws, norms and standards that trouble our vision. We even learned at school to stick to the subject; problems should be solved within boundaries. Let's call that the framework of our thinking. The framework is build on what we learn; what we experience though learning and observation. Anything influencing us from outside the framework can cause stress. We are not used to dealing with that pattern. Except we are; we just don't want to acknowledge that.

This is were we should change and start thinking outside our framework. Understand the stress factors that are around us and use them. This can only be achieved via learning and perhaps a little acceptance. If we learn we change our framework, make it wider, narrower, bigger or smaller. It's a constant process we are barely aware of, but it happens all the time.

Learning new things every day, week, month or year keeps the mind young and makes it easier to find solutions to everyday problems. In software development time flies like the wind, progression is made in a very high pace. Therefore developers should try and keep up with new information. In my opinion a developer who only understands one programming language can be very good at his job, but never as good as he (or she) can get. Learning more programming languages will give insight into how certain programming problems are solved in other ways. This will break open the framework of thinking and create new possibilities for solutions on problems.

From yes-but.org: 
Wherever we work and live, people experience problems. Things don’t go as expected. What’s our response? We say “Yes, but…”. Yes, but I can’t. Yes, but that’s not allowed. Yes, but how much will that cost?
And what happens then? Irritation, stagnation, decline. People who approach life in a yes-but way, think in terms of threats, difficulties and limitations. The glass is always half empty.
There is also another way of thinking: the ”Yes-and” posture. People who approach life in a yes-and way, think in terms of chances and opportunities. They not only see a glass of water, but also ask the question: “Where is the faucet?” This yes-and thinking we call “flipthinking”.

Thinking outside the box can be empowered by flipthinking. A yes-and approach on things. Look at solutions, try to look at problems from multiple directions. Is the before mentioned glass half empty, half full, is the glass just too big or perhaps it is full; with water and air. There are lots of ways looking into problems, try to find them, try to find a hypotheses why any of the problems might be right.

So in short: start learning, start looking around, think of other ways to solve a problem, do it with everything around you; not only work, start flipthinking and most of all have fun doing it!

More:  yes-but.org