Thinking outside the box
Thinking outside the box (also thinking out of the box or thinking beyond the box and, especially in Australia, thinking outside the square) is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. The phrase also often refers to novel or creative thinking. History The origin of the phrase is unclear. "Think beyond the boundary"-metaphors, that is, metaphors that allude to think differently or with less constraints, seem to have an old history. For example, in 1888, The Annual Register records the phrase think outside the lines. Since at least 1954, the nine dots puzzle has been used as a metaphor of the type "think beyond the boundary". Early phrasings include go outside the dots (1954), breakthrough thinking that gets outside the nine-dot square (1959), and what are the actual boundaries of the problem? (1963). In 1969, Norman Vincent Peale writes this in an article for the Chicago Tribune, quote: In 1970, the phrase think outside the dots appears without mentioning the nine dots puzzle. Finally, in 1971, the specific phrase think outside the box is attested, again appearing together with the nine dots puzzle. In 1976, the phrase is used in England and 1978 in