“They are born, put in a box; they go home to live in a box; they study by ticking boxes; they go to what is called ‘work’ in a box, where they sit in their cubicle box; they drive to the grocery store in a box to buy food in a box; they talk about thinking ‘outside the box’ ; and when they die they are put in a box.”- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Epistemologist, essayist

What does it really mean to live in a box? Can we live in a box for the rest of our lives? How can we avoid living in a box?

You can get out of the box. It is within your power. You start by figuring out what is important to you, where you are in your life, and where you want to go. Because you can’t get out of the box if you don’t know where you are going. Do not talk yourself into believing that living in a box is all you can achieve in your life. That is not true. You can do more than living in a box. You can do more than getting stuck in a rut. You are better than living in a box.

If getting out of the box is so important to you, you must do whatever it takes to get out of it. Do not do what is not helping you grow. Do not do what is not getting you closer to your goal. Do not let fear stop you from living your true life. Do not let fear stop you from doing your best work. Because if you want the best, you must give the best.

Life is about giving. You get what you give. So if you want to achieve your dreams, you must get out of the box. You do that by challenging the status quo, by doing things differently, by not settling for less than you are worth, by thinking outside the box, and by believing in yourself. You can’t change by doing the same thing. You can’t change by living in the box. Growth doesn’t happen inside the box. Growth happens outside the box. So if you want to grow, you MUST stop living in a box.