what does it mean when someone thinks outside the box?

Question

i hear this a lot but what the heck r they talking about?

Answer 1

"The box" symbolizes containment, and thinking outside it means people are thinking in a whole new way. Thinking something kind of odd, usually, but in an interesting way. For instance, "If you pushed redial on a new phone, who would you get?" My response, "If I pressed redial on a brand-new phone, the phone would have a fit."

Answer 2

To think outside the box is a new buzz word started about five or six years ago, possibly by a commercial that means to think for one's self and not just use the information someone else is already using. Be creative.

Answer 3

its kind of like looking for the not so obvious answers or looking beyond what everyone says and getting a unique answer. Like for example if you where asked which weighs more a brick or a feather. Most people would say brick, but a person who thinks outside of the box might say the feather because the brick is very small and the feather is huge. Something like that.

Answer 4

Think of a box as school conforming to one thought. When you think outside of the box, you are being original and not necessarily going with the flow. It has become a "coined" phrase. Think of inventers and how someone once thought that the world was flat, then one person thought outside the box, and said it's round...stuff like that.

Answer 5

a box is a square. which means that most people think only of what is in the square, to think outside the box you think further than the square and discover all sorts of other angles and answers to a question or subject.try it it broadens youre mind and outlook on things in life.

Answer 6

thinking outside the box means that you go above and beyond your normal call of duties. You go an extra mile to help someone out even though it wouldn't be your job too. making dinner when your mom only asked you to do the dishes ... thinking it would be helping your mom out with time :-)

Answer 7

There was a brain teaser long ago that consisted of three rows of three dots.

. . .
. . .
. . .

The challenge was to connect the dots using just four lines. Most people couldn't do it, because they PRESUMED you had to stay within the "box" defined by the dots.

The only way to do it is to think outside the box.

Answer 8

Go beyond the limit! Like viewing things differently. You might have a different opinion on something and no one else might because you looked beyond that problem. Know what I mean?

Answer 9

Breaking away from traditional or conventional thought to develop a unique, superior solution to a difficult problem.

Answer 10

The more technical term for this is "lateral thinking". It refers to not allowing yourself to be constrained by apparent parameters of the problem.