Think Outside of the Norm by Glen P Jon

Mark Twain once said, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. " This is an apparently strange thing to read at first glance. He was referring to thinking out of the box.

The fi rst assumption of many people working is that they are trapped in their job. The popular assumption is that they are not qualified for anything else. They focus on merely an
assumption. People tend to think over and over the same thing before they take the time and actually evaluate their situation. Unfortunately, in this day and age, the average middle class person is not inclined to think creatively. I guess this is due to social conditioning. From elementary school through out high school, they are basically told facts and what to do. Technical analysis or creative thinking has not been advocated to the masses in general. The average person does not take the time to evaluate other opportunities that match their interests and abilities. It's easier to stay inside the lines of traditional thinking. It takes less energy, however the out come is boring.

People are ready to impose limitations on themselves and surprisingly enough, others. A famous inventor Charles Kettering once said, "All human development, no matter what form it takes, must be outside the rules; otherwise, we would never have anything different. " It's always fun to see friends of mine get those "Oooh! " moments, when talking to them about creative income, Their limitations are gone and they're free to question the wonderful world of opportunity! I speak of the point where barriers of traditional thinking start melting all around them.

I was fortunate enough to have been raised around somewhat moderately creative thinkers, although half of my immediate family was straight ahead traditionalists. The creativity undoubtedly came from adversity. If we did not have, we would resort to creativity. Things like playing football in the street with a coffee can remind me of the good times. At first the hard coffee can was a drag because we thought we wanted a "real foot ball." Then after a while coffee can wound up being the fun thing to do even when we could afford a "real foot ball. The coffee can bought about a whole new set of sensory considerations. It was hard and shiny. No one else was doing it, so that made us think we where cool and unique.

As a matter of fact, we were. The phrase "necessity is the mother of invention" has validity. We were forced to think out of the box at an early age. Some how, I continue to think out of the box because adversity continues to follow my human condition. This is not a rant or a complaint. I merely attest to the necessity of thinking out of the so-called box.