Thinking Inside The Box

Thinking Inside the Box - Lessons of the Square Watermelon
Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than their US counterparts and therefore don't have room to waste.Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it. That is how I would assume the vastmajority of people would respond. But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets wanted a square watermelon, they asked themselves, "How can we provide one?" It wasn't longbefore they invented the square watermelon.



The solution to the problem of round watermelons wasn't nearly as difficult to solve for those who didn't assume the problem was impossible to beginwith and simply asked how it could be done. It turns out that all you need to do is place them into a square box when they are growing and the watermelon will take on the shape of the box. This madethe grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigeratorswhich are much smaller than those in the US meaning that the growers could charge a premium price for them.
What does this have do with anything besides square watermelons? There are a few lessons thatcan you can take away from this story which help you in all parts of your life. Here are a few of them:
Don't Assume: The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so theyautomatically assumed that square watermelons were impossible before even thinking about the question. Things that you have been doing a certain way your entire life have taken on the aura of the roundwatermelon and you likely don't even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it. Breaking yourself from assuming this way can greatly improve your overall life as you are constantly...