Is your career in a rut? Is your business in a rut? Are you in a rut?
If you're in this situation, you've probably been told "think outside the box," which basically means "get outside your current assumptions" to see new opportunities and solutions.
This is wrong. You should not think outside the box career-wise.
You should get out of the box, set it on fire, and jump up and down on the ashes before sweeping them into the river to be washed out to sea forever. You then need electroshock therapy to forget your box. By the time "the box" has imprisoned you it's not something to get out of a little bit – it is something to DESTROY.
In fact, here's a guilty secrets for us geeky, neo-literati, otaku fan-types. We are just as capable as anyone of being able to straightjacket our minds. In fact, we're probably very good at it since we're use to using our imaginations, and we can dream up an amazing amount of ways to shackle ourselves.