Author: Sope Afolayan
Title: Stop Thinking Outside The Box!
Year of Publication: 2020
Reviewer: Edozie Udeze
This is a theme that resonates with the populace these days. More so, it resonates in the minds of those who want to move on in their quest to make things better than they are. And so Sope Afolayan, the author of this book chose the title Stop Thinking Outside the Box. It is time therefore when old things should pass away. And let new things, new ideas, fresh ways of approach and so on, hold away in the way people handle projects, dreams and jobs.
The author, Afolayan is clear about what the book is all about. Apart from being a motivational book stuffed with some already known ideas on how to create wealth, inspire oneself, solve problems in more accelerated ways, it is a book that imbues curiosity to find lasting solutions to the challenges of humanity in the areas of health, economy, education, politics, name it.
The terminologies employed by the author make it more fascinating to read. “It usually takes a degree of creative obsession to develop ingenuity and formulate groundbreaking ideas that transcend thinking outside the box”. In other words, for there to a steady road to progress in all facets of human lives, then let the status quo be obliterated. It is time to forget the usual routine, the old ways of doing things. The time for technology and the new normal has come. Time for everyone who wants to make it in life to break the barriers and move on. Whether self imposed or mechanically induced; it is time to try new ideas. Some of the new ideas have to be disruptive, hard and far-reaching for them to take people to the next level, next stage.
And so if a nation wants to remain poor, and bankrupt, let it remain innovatively bankrupt. What this means is that people, policy-makers, policy-formulators and so on, have to continually think ahead. Nations that have moved out of the box in their resolve to move on ahead, have since advanced better and faster. On page 6, it says: Yes, “it is time to create a new world order!… this book will trigger the minds that re-imagine the future, redesign why we exist and take the lead in a disruptive world”.
Done into six chapters, each has a new approach entirely to tackle the ever-problematic thinking within the box. No, it is now time to break the box, smash it if you will, so long as there will be meaningful results to resolve problems. When people are boxed in their thinking while others still think out of the box, what then is the solution? Now when you smash the box, what then becomes the norm? With various instances to buttress his points, Afolayan situates that when people are afraid to dare, progress becomes a hurdle. This book gives insights.
On page 12, he says: “the box connotes all forms of limitations we create in our imagination, doubt, unbelief, tradition, status quo, complacency, compromise, stagnancy and all the by-products of our mindsets mostly implanted by society. You must always think about things differently, look at things differently and do things differently”. Then he throws the big one-“ are you set to come out of your shell? or are you ready to break the box?”. Once therefore the box is broken, there are no more hindrances; you move on, you dare, you create, you make deeper advances in your career and all.
So, being futuristic is also part of it. “We must consciously innovate before the need for the innovation ever arises. That is to say, you must develop the lifestyle of imagining future possibilities and always deliberately innovate”. The concept the author adopts is explicit. It helps to make the book easier to assimilate for the ideas themselves are problem-solvers. And so in chapter two, we move, for it is time to move to higher grounds. The world moves at a faster pace. Even yester years technologies, as fanciful as they appeared, are no longer binding today. So nations; people involved in planning have to invest heavily in research in order to guarantee tomorrow. Ideas have to be allowed to incubate, well-honed for the sake of tomorrow, for the sake of averting disasters in time to come.
Chapter three – ‘defy the red sea’, is more audacious. On page 71, Afolayan infers: “Anti-conventional thinking encourages meditating upon a situation in order to build unconventional connections between the situation and other information in your mind”. With this, the book says that people should not allow impossible situations to deter them. With many examples espoused in the chapter, it is left for us to limit limitations or set limit for limitations. In other words, there is nothing too difficult for the willing mind to subdue. Challenge your guts. “Provoke your instincts. And think like there is no box”, page 77.
Chapter four titled “Crazy awesome ideas’ starts with positive concepts to set the mind on the edge of progress. Afolayan thrives on examples, familiar ones for that matter that agitate the mind and dares you to thrive. If you have obsession for creativity, move on, do not delay, do not procrastinate.
Chapter five is on ‘my mysterious odyssey’, with more critical examples. These common examples are mentioned to help people achieve. Many people have moved outside the box both in the distant past and the recent past to achieve great feats. No idea is really unachievable, insurmountable!
Chapter six is on ‘Days of future past! What is the history of the future or what is the future of history?” the author rather asks reflectively. This comes in handy because those who will control the future are those who are limitless in their imaginations, in their thought-process. With appropriate illustrations and life-saving references, the author has indeed presented a book that is poised to save lots of people from allowing their dreams to fizzle out. It is a book infused with plenty of thought-provoking ideas, concepts and forcefulness to make it where others are to laid back to try. Minus a few errors here and there it is good to build the mind and reawaken dreams and imaginations.