Thinking Outside the Mental Box

When you are ambitious and you have goals that you want to reach you have to train yourself to not box yourself in. I had a mentor years ago that told me that whenever I get in a rut I start to box myself in and create “imaginary walls”. At first I did not understand what he meant when he told me that. But after looking deeper into what he was saying what he meant was that whenever a problem posed for me I would think very limited thoughts and box myself in. This phrase meant that there are so many more solutions to problems and ways of doing things that I shouldn’t limit myself with ways to solve the problems. I then realized that I needed to make some adjustments because if I kept doing this I would not be able to reach my full potential as a person. So what did I do? I challenged myself that everytime I ran into a problem I would stop and really think of all of the ways that I could solve the problem.

One habit that I used to have was I would only think that people in my specific industry had good input on my situations and that everyone else’s advice in other industries were irrelevant. That was wrong and everytime I started to think that way and think my thoughts on paper for a solution I would ask myself … am I thinking too much inside the box? Could someone that is an outsider look at this problem and see the solution much clearer than I could because they were not attached to the situation but saw it for what the situation was. I found out this is one of the best ways to solve a problem or come up with a solution. I also found out another lesson within this lesson which is that there is nothing wrong with asking for help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness or stupidity (which is the way I viewed it) but it is actually the sign of a smart leader.

What limits are you putting on yourself ? What limits are you putting on your team ? If you are anything like me you most likely see a problem for what it is and then think that there is only one way to solve it. That is until you bring someone else into the situation and ask for their opinion and they see the solution clear as day. So here is the question I am in the habit of constantly asking myself…. where did we get these limits ? Who set or decided that there was only one way to do something ? Sometimes we get so caught up in the world of needing knowledge that we sometimes forget how to think for ourselves or even worse think that our solutions are dumb because of course… we thought of them.

Some great tips that I have learned through challenging myself on thinking outside of the box are when a problem is presented step back and write the problem down. After you write the problem down then write ten or more different ways to solve the problem. After you do that ask some other friends and co workers how they would solve the problem. Then after you have several solutions start going through them and asking if you took the action of following through with that specific solution….what is the worst thing that could happen? If the worst thing that could happen did could you handle the problem and come up with another solution?

Never take a problem or a situation and think that it is permanent because it is not! Do not fall into the trap like I did and allow yourself to get trapped in the mental box. Be creative and focus on the solution and your decisions will be more effective and you will be happier. Don’t fall into paralysis by analysis. Now go out and take an action NOW.

The Risk Taking Leader

Taking Risk is crucial in keeping you as a leader exciting and powerful. When you are taking risks it gives you an adrenaline rush like nothing else in the world. That adrenaline can take you to levels that you never thought possible. It also gives you the confidence to achieve many other things indirectly. The reason why this is, is because when you are afraid to do something and take a risk you fear the unknown. As humans I think we are all afraid of the unknown. The cool part about this though is when you go through a risk and you succeed you realize something. You realize that there are things out there that you never thought could be possilbe for you that you could achieve. It makes you think what else am I holding myself back from?

There is something about taking risks that your team will admire. When your team sees that you are willing to go out and put it all on the line, they know they can trust what you say. It gives your team power because they have a real leader. A leader who backs up what he says with ACTION. Action is the most powerful thing you can do and also the riskiest and scariest because God forbid we make a mistake and fail. How did we learn what is a risk anyways? Who decided certain actions were risky or that we should not do them for fear of not doing them well? These are all society norms that tell us what we can and can’t do. This is not for us because we want to LIVE and not die a slow conforming death. We only live once and we need to take advantage of as much life as we can as possible. Think to yourself if I got shot tomorrow or hit by a car tomorrow would I be completely happy with all of the chances I took? Did I even attempt my dreams or did I talk myself out of it?

Leading is about taking things to the next level and their is literally no way you can do that by just sitting back and taking the safe road. The so called “safe road” is actually more risky because you have less control because you are not taking any action. When you are sitting back you are vulnerable to everything and you lose the power of chance and choice. The fact that you are choosing a short term gain like that will cause long term pain. You will wake up and wonder why did I not try more? Why did I not try harder? Why did I not commit?

Think of all of the great things that have been created and the paths that have been created by people who society thought were completely insane. Think about it they saw a vision and they made that vision a reality by taking the risk of not accepting the status quo. They were ok with looking like a fool if it did not work out right away or hearing the naysayers whisper about how silly they were. But what makes us different is that fact that we are the people that want to make a difference in the world. We want to affect our staff, our families, and loved ones have them believe that there is so much more we could be doing. So much more potential that we can be reaching and the things that seem like they would be impossible are possible. That is what we all live for anyways, the chance to witness or be a part of something bigger. As humans and as business leaders instinctively we know that it can be done and that there is hope. And with hope there leaves a chance even if it seems like a small chance that things can turn out just as we envisioned them.