One of my professor's in college taught us to think outside the box by making us draw pictures of our own hands over and over again. While I'm not going to tell you to go that far--or dress as weird as she did--the principle of looking at an everyday thing (or situation) in detail and from different angles often leads to creativity and innovation.

Here are a few cool examples (let me know about others by leaving a comment):

• An alarm clock seems like a pretty standard household item, but Bedol took it to the next level by creating alarm clocks that run on water. Check them out: Bedol. Here are some more cool water-powered devices from ecofriend.org. 
• Urban farming can change empty spaces in urban environments into produce-producing plots. Check out urbanfarming.org.
• Houses don't have to be made from brick and mortar or wood and sheetrock. Check out homes made from shipping containers--green.yahoo.com--and old railroad cars--thegreenestdollar.com. There are even whole complexes made from shipping containers: containercity.com.  

Hopefully these ideas will inspire personal innovation. And if you need monetary motivation, rather than just a feel-good buzz, remember that companies like Apple have made billions of dollars off of outside-the-box thinking. It's not like the iPod was the first portable mp3 player; it was just approached from a different angle. There's very real success to be found in The Business of Being Creative.

--Jens

Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.

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