5 books that will help you to think outside the box and why it is important right now

Consuming gigabytes of information, we begin to think patterned. Robots automate more and more specialties, and only those workers who think outside the box become indispensable. Many people believe that creativity is an innate skill. I thought so too, until I read these books. They proved that everyone can learn to think outside the box.

Anyone can think outside the box

Make the following equation correct without rearranging matches:

I - IX = X

Did you succeed? Yes? Congratulations. Not? Look at this equation upside down. Now it happened. This simple example proves that non-standard thought is a skill that can be mastered.
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Of course, rearranging matches will not help you succeed in your career. It's not about solving logical problems, but about how to look at familiar things in a new way. It is this skill that sets a person apart from the crowd at the interview, in the office and in life.

Concept of strategic management of ideas

The Ideal - Mario Priken

Waiting for insight is unproductive, especially when your result depends on non-standard solutions. It doesn't matter who you are: a developer, a designer or a writer. You need to get creative ideas almost every day.

The book contains more than two hundred examples from real advertising campaigns. The author does not reveal the methods of creative thinking, but asks leading questions that make the reader independently get to their essence.

Practical methods of non-standard thinking

Rice assault and another 21 ways to think outside the box - Michael Micalco

If the first book makes the reader independently come to the necessary conclusions, then Michael Mikalko shares ready-made ways of thinking that will help come up with an idea, look at it differently and determine its viability.

I started reading this book on the phone, but I quickly realized that such a book should be kept on the table in order to periodically look in. The author's advice is very simple in execution and I, as the chief product designer, started using them right away.

10 commandments of a creative person

Steal like an artist - Austin Cleon

It's amazing how simple ideas can change thinking. The author reminds a person who got rid of the surrounding noise and formulated 10 rules of a creative person.

I started reading this book at the store and finished on the way home. The author writes very briefly and sensibly, and what is most important, awakens the desire to create.

How to be different

Doubt. Manifesto for those who are ready to leave the crowd - Slava Baransky

It doesn't matter if we trust the information we receive. She still settles in the head and changes thinking. It becomes difficult to distinguish one's opinion from the imposed one, and we even stop trying to do it. Doubt is a way to find your opinion.

The book "Doubt" did not become a bestseller, but changed the lives of many people. The words of the author hurt. They either push or completely change, because he is telling the truth. The only question is how you perceive it.

Effective thinking

Visual thinking - Dan Roem

It's amazing. By simply stating the situation on paper, you can find unexpected things. Moreover, you do not need to be an artist. The very fact that a thought is fixed in the form of visual images helps to find something new in it.

My most important career decision was made with a simple drawing. I visualized my skills, aspirations and the choice of a further path to me was obvious. Since then, any problem that needs to be solved is considered only on paper.

You are already able to think creatively

Even if you do not read any of the books listed, conduct an experiment. Look at a familiar task or problem in a new way. Find something extra in it and remove. Or vice versa, associate it with another idea or task and get a hybrid. Thus, they make up plots of films, write books, create innovative companies.

Our creativity is incredible. Use them.

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