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 vast majority 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 long before 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 begin with 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 made the 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 refrigerators which 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 that can 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 they automatically 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 round watermelon 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 looking for new and better ways to do things. This was one of the most difficult things for me to do because most of the assumptions I make, I don’t even realize that I’m making them. They seem perfectly logical on the surface, so I have to constantly make an effort to question them.
Question habits: The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question your habits. If you can make an effort to question the way you do things on a consistent basis, you will find that you can continually improve the way that you live your life. Forming habits when they have been well thought out is usually a positive thing, but most of us have adopted our habits from various people and places without even thinking about them. I have changed a large number of habits that I have had after taking the time to question them and continue to do so. Some of them I have know idea where they came from while others I can trace to certain people or instances in my life. It’s a never ending process, but by doing this, you can consistently strive toward making all aspects of your life more enjoyable instead of defaulting to what you have now.
Be creative: When faced with a problem, be creative in looking for a solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Most people who viewed this question likely thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter water melons to grow square which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. By looking at the question from an alternative perspective, however, the solution was quite simple. Being creative and looking at things in different ways in all portions of your live will help you find solutions to many problems where others can’t see them. I am not a creative person, but I’ve found that the more that you look at things from different perspectives, the more creative I have become. It’s a learned art and builds upon itself.
Look for a better way: The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It’s impossible to find a better way if you are never asking the question in the first place. I try to ask if there is a better way of doing the things that I do and I constantly write down the things I wish I could do (but currently can’t) since these are usually hints about steps I need to change. Get into the habit of asking yourself, “Is there a better way I could be doing this?” and you will find there often is.
Impossibilities often aren’t: If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for you. If, on the other hand, you decide to see if something is possible or not, you will find out through trial and error. Many of the lessons above are what I used to create my online income. As I’ve said many times, it’s not easy, but it’s certainly not impossible. Even for those of us that are not A-List Bloggers, creating a full time online income is quite possible as I have shown.
Take away the lessons from the square watermelons and apply them to all areas in your life (work, finances, relationships, etc) and you will find that by consistently applying them, you will constantly be improving all aspects of your life.
If you enjoyed this post and want to learn more about how I created a six figure online income without being an A-list blogger, please consider subscribing to my rss feed
Posted: April 4th, 2008 under Entrepreneurship, Lifehack.
Comments: 71
Comments
Comment from MotivAider
Time: December 5, 2007, 6:49 am
Excellent post! Indeed we tend to think inside of the box instead of … well, like a box shaped melon.
btw, I find your analogy super!
Comment from CRM
Time: December 5, 2007, 8:11 am
I like it. I always try to look at things this way and this watermelon story is a great example.
Comment from 47
Time: December 5, 2007, 11:20 am
Awesome post as always! It’s totally possible to learn creativity. I wasn’t “born” creative either but practice is making perfect. I wrote about developing an idea-generating mindset a few weeks ago after finding it gets easier and easier over time as well.
47
Comment from mudin001
Time: December 6, 2007, 12:18 am
wow! this is so inspiring…
Comment from John Smith
Time: December 7, 2007, 8:12 am
Redundancy - Someone has to state the obvious.
Comment from AD Dixon
Time: December 7, 2007, 10:45 am
I guess I’m just not a conventional thinker. Or maybe it’s because I grew up on a farm. It would absolutely never have occurred to me that you couldn’t make a square watermelon, or any other shape you wanted.
Comment from Ben Cope
Time: December 7, 2007, 1:06 pm
GENIUS! Instead of looking at the way things are and asking “why,” we should look at the way things could be and ask “why not”!!!!
Comment from Colin
Time: December 7, 2007, 5:21 pm
They should have just made the supermarket round…
Comment from jon
Time: December 7, 2007, 5:26 pm
i can’t believe you guys are falling for this story. They charge like 200 dollars for those “square” watermelons. Lets get real here people, this story isn’t about inspirations, but about maximizing profits for people who want a novelty.
Comment from Andy
Time: December 8, 2007, 12:12 am
Shame that the square watermelon thing is not true. They are not made for convenience at all. Actually if you want one you will have to search very hard and have $200-$400 spare. They are a novelty item made to increase profits.
Comment from david
Time: December 8, 2007, 12:24 am
I’ve seen them in Japan and they do cost a bit more than the regular watermellons do, but they were available in all the local supermarkets in my area this past year
Comment from greg
Time: December 8, 2007, 12:28 am
They are simple to get. Can get them through mail order these days. Not hard to find at all.
Comment from darrenT
Time: December 8, 2007, 6:53 am
This is quite inspirational and makes me want to try thinking in different ways than I usually do. Thanks for sharing the post. Absolutely love the square watermelons. I’ll have to try and grow on someday.
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Time: December 8, 2007, 11:18 am
[…] Lessons of the Square Watermelon (tags: ondernemen) […]
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Time: December 9, 2007, 8:09 pm
Carnival of Personal Finance - Edition 130…
Welcome to the Carnvial of Personal Finance!
Make sure you check out the intro video below for some highlights of the carnival:
As you might be able to tell, this was my first web recording so it could use some work. Fortunately, I’ve been blo…
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Time: December 10, 2007, 6:02 am
[…] Lessons of the Square Watermelon […]
Comment from Tom
Time: December 10, 2007, 12:19 pm
From what I understand, the idea was to save consumer’s space in their refrigerator.
I am a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. method. Why reinvent the wheel?
Just cut up the watermelon and throw that rind away, it will take up half the space
Comment from Ashi
Time: December 11, 2007, 6:27 am
This is what i meant. Love you.
Pingback from Thinking inside the Box…? | Aspiring Business
Time: December 11, 2007, 9:44 pm
[…] can find the article (along with some more pictures) here - the author does a nice job writing up the story and makes some great points about innovating and […]
Comment from Dasha
Time: December 12, 2007, 7:12 pm
I was linked here from somewhere.
How about the fact that a square watermelon doesn’t have that watermelon presence about it? Don’t we lose something by making it so “convenient”? I thought part of the point of watermelons was that they are large, bulky and therefore having one is an occasion in itself.
I feel that this is a negative lesson- like tv dinners. You gain something, but you lose so much more.
Comment from jblu
Time: December 12, 2007, 9:46 pm
Nice analogy. Square watermelons and thinking outside the box…good stuff. 
Comment from elloawake
Time: December 12, 2007, 11:57 pm
propaganda? china?
Pingback from Weekly Roundup - 12 Days of Christmas Edition | Cash Money Life
Time: December 15, 2007, 9:37 am
[…] Lessons of the Square Watermelon, from Financial Hack. Sometimes it’s best to think outside the box - other times, within. […]
Pingback from Kaizen und quadratische Wassermelonen » Beitrag » wandelweb.de
Time: December 16, 2007, 1:14 am
[…] Geschichte habe ich auf dem Financial Hack Blog […]
Pingback from GettingAgile.com » Blog Archive » Lessons of the Square Watermelon
Time: December 21, 2007, 10:43 am
[…] Many think that changes seem impossible at times. In the Agile space there is a phrase which is quite often mentioned, “The Art of the Possible”. Check out how these Japanese farmers and grocery stores made the seemingly impossible possible in this article. […]
Comment from marvin nubwaxer
Time: December 24, 2007, 1:46 am
how much do you think a square melon costs compared to a natural. sometimes the intuition of a six year old might help too.
Pingback from Updates From Sam Jones » Blog Archive » links for 2007-12-27
Time: December 27, 2007, 8:20 am
[…] Lessons of the Square Watermelon - Financial Hack (tags: entrepreneurship) […]
Comment from peter guszti
Time: December 27, 2007, 10:28 am
I lived in Japan, and yeah I know it can be tough. a mango is like 30 bucks, in tokyo like at a prestigous grocery store, and water melon can be 90 bucks, 90 bucks!!!!!. anyway, whoever writes thiese artitcles on this website is great. keep it up. all your links on the right hand menuy bar side is great, and if you dont mind I put some extra comments, and links here, http://www.opentopix.com/topic/off-beat/lessons-of-the-square-watermelon
Comment from sumanth krishna
Time: December 28, 2007, 3:24 am
Indeed Great post and analogy!
Earlier I got these squared watermelon images as part of funny images… but when I stumbled across your post, I really observed the lesson/reason behind them 
Thanks for the post!
Comment from Rajesh Batta
Time: December 28, 2007, 3:49 am
Great Analogy!.
Indeed it is very true that one should think ‘out of Box’ to improve in life. Analogy is very simple and easy to grasp the essense !
Comment from michael o’grady
Time: December 29, 2007, 3:20 pm
“living in default to what I have created already,” is the important motivator for me. Sometimes my patterns grind me.
Pingback from How to make a square watermelon. | Sean Johnson - Intentionally - The Education of Sean Johnson
Time: December 30, 2007, 9:02 pm
[…] No genetic engineering required - just a box. […]
Comment from frank Mundo
Time: December 31, 2007, 4:11 pm
… say.. did you ever pick any… fruit?
J. Winters
Comment from Shawn Chong
Time: January 19, 2008, 10:12 am
Wow… great post! I came upon your blog by looking up inventions on Google… and now I’m intrigued about your six-figure income.
Comment from CatherineL
Time: January 21, 2008, 4:23 am
Those water melons look so weird. It just shows that any business problem can be got round though - even if it involves manipulating nature a little bit.
Thanks for the inspirational post by the way. I reached a point where I was struggling to overcome a major business hurdle this morning and this post has spurred me on.
Comment from Karl Erfurt
Time: January 27, 2008, 7:55 pm
That square watermelon thing is a nice marketing idea. Here in south Texas we have a long growing season and can produce watermelons, although I’m not sure if making the square ones could command a higher price at the local store or farmer’s markets. This would make for an interesting market research study.
Pingback from Lessons of the Square Watermelon | Daily IM Tools
Time: January 28, 2008, 10:44 pm
[…] http://www.financialhack.com/2007/12/04/10145_lessons-of-the-square-watermelon.html […]
Comment from Krypton
Time: February 13, 2008, 3:27 am
Really true!!!
We all tend to think in the same direction for a problem, as we did earlier. We should always try for new routes to solve an issue.
Thanks to the peson who analysed this!!!!
Comment from Case Stevens
Time: February 15, 2008, 8:30 am
Funny…
By putting them IN, people were thinking OUTSIDE the box.
What a paradox.
Comment from erica
Time: February 26, 2008, 10:22 am
Erica,
Being an engineer,I’m sure you are already thinking “outside the box”
Loveyou!
DAD
Pingback from Lessons of the Square Watermelon / frogblog / frog design
Time: February 27, 2008, 10:55 pm
[…] By: Tim Leberecht - February 28, 2008 Wonderful fable on innovation from Financial Hack: […]
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Time: February 28, 2008, 1:37 pm
[…] A Crime Against Nature 28 02 2008 I am so creeped out by this. […]
Pingback from Lessons of the Square Watermelon | The Opine
Time: March 4, 2008, 5:11 pm
[…] What does a square watermelon have to do with anything besides a square watermelon? There are a few common sense life lessons you can take away from this story. Link. […]
Comment from Keith
Time: March 21, 2008, 9:06 pm
Who would pay that much?? Not only the cost of the melon, but the cases to grow them are $100.
Comment from Rick
Time: March 29, 2008, 7:06 pm
Clever marketing at best - but I’m not sure It’s problem solving. Am I to understand that the traditional shaped watermelon couldn’t be cut into pieces and harvested from the rinds and marketed in reasonable size containers? Perhaps the consumer was blinded by the novelty. When the fruit is harvested from the square watermelon, I would presume it to be of comparable flavor and texture of traditional melon. In the end - square just cost more. Consider buying steak. One steak at a time I pay a premium vs. taking that steak from a side of beef where the price per pound is more reasonable. Which size I buy is dictated by my need at the time. What’s next small square cows?
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Time: April 6, 2008, 5:00 am
[…] in the Post-It Notes. Now, where would 3M be without Post-It? Here is another cool example — square watermelons — who would have […]
Pingback from Brush away the cobwebs from your daydreams » Blog Archive » links for 2008-04-06
Time: April 6, 2008, 4:30 pm
[…] Lessons of the Square Watermelon Apparently growing a watermelon in a box is an example of thinking out of the box. Worth checking out just for the pictures. These things are funny looking. (tags: weird) […]
Comment from mae
Time: May 1, 2008, 3:17 am
wow..this is great…nothing is impossible…
Comment from Shyju C K
Time: May 5, 2008, 5:44 am
Hi all,
Really inspiring. For each problem there should be the solution. There won’t be any problem without solution. The problems are for finding the solution. Always think in simple way. This article is truly amazing.
Comment from Dhannia
Time: May 7, 2008, 3:19 am
A round water melon is growing with enough sun rays and air which means it grows naturally. Will the other grown in a square box with no light and proper air have that quality? Still the customer has to pay more- for the conveneience of storing in refrigerator only!!!
Comment from Matelis
Time: May 8, 2008, 8:11 am
Beautyfull gurken. :)))
Comment from Joe Blow
Time: May 8, 2008, 3:18 pm
I want to use this story on my website. WHo is the author? WHere can I get permission?
Comment from Entrepreneur Life
Time: May 8, 2008, 8:24 pm
This post was outstanding, who would have thought that a square watermelon was even possible, I guess sometimes thinking outside the box is the only way to solve a problem, or in this case, thinking inside the box.
Comment from Stephen Monday
Time: May 20, 2008, 7:27 am
Columbus thought the world square until he attempted to sail to another country. And also, discovered a new route in traveling from country to another.
Comment from Rita
Time: June 5, 2008, 8:57 am
Excellent analogy.
Interesting about the watermelons in Japan. Recently at Costco in the states I’ve noticed they’ve stopped selling bananas (at least at my store). They must have done the math on it and realized it’s a very bulky item and the cheapest thing they used to sell.
Comment from Hal
Time: June 20, 2008, 9:44 am
Interesting analogy that could have been much better if it was not full of logical falacies and wrong conclusions. The ideas of creativity thinking and looking for better ways of doing things are great, and they don’t need to be supported by false assumptions. The author even has a paragraph titled, “Don’t Assume”; however, that is exactly what is done all throughout the article.
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Time: June 24, 2008, 2:45 am
[…] ????????????? ????????????????? ? ????? ????? ????????. ????? ??????? […]
Comment from Check this
Time: June 24, 2008, 10:21 am
enjoy
Comment from kumar
Time: June 24, 2008, 10:54 am
good one !!!
Comment from Watch Movies
Time: June 24, 2008, 10:55 am
inspiring…..
Comment from anitha
Time: June 24, 2008, 1:19 pm
wow, we tend to think out of the box capabilities, i guess we miss ed “inside the box”.
Comment from g
Time: June 24, 2008, 3:11 pm
Square watermelons are no more than a marketing gimmick to make stupid people pay than they need to for something.
Like people above mentioned, you could just cut up the watermelon and store it in square containers.
It reminds me of the anecdote of the US spending millions of dollars on a pen that works in space, while Russian astronauts simply used a pencil.
Comment from Geeta Bose
Time: June 25, 2008, 4:58 am
Very interesting post. Forget the fallacies of the analogy, the essence is clear! Creative thinking and innovation can help circumvent any problem. Recently, I was watching a documentary on NatGeo about the robot camel jockey “Kamel” (to substitute child camel jockeys) in Qatar. (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0715_050715_robot_jockey.html)
This exercise cost them millions! While the Swiss robotics firm designing Kamel were frantically trying to evolve a close replica of a child jockey, the bedouins (the camel breeding tribe) of neighboring countries came up with a cheap and innovative alternative. They strapped a drill machine on the camel to act like a jockey wielding the whip and used remote control to control the whip. It served the purpose well and cost only a fraction of the robotic creation. It was innovation at its best!
Pingback from Russ Schoen » Lessons from the World of Square Watermelons
Time: June 27, 2008, 1:35 am
[…] approach and thinking out-of-the-box (or maybe in the box in this case!)… CLICK HERE TO READ THE STORY ABOUT THE SQUARE WATERMELON AND LESSONS YOU CAN TAKE AWAYThanks to Jonathan Vehar of http://www.newandimproved.com for sharing this story with me. […]
Comment from shanker
Time: June 27, 2008, 2:34 am
Remarkable that watermelon arched into a square shape and it makes sence if we try definely be successful in life at any part.
Comment from Elvis
Time: June 28, 2008, 9:44 am
Pretty soon we will be seeing square pumpkins (may be already in the market). But the ingenuity is great. Let’s ” think ” like the japanese…..
Comment from silvermist
Time: June 29, 2008, 4:39 pm
cool
Pingback from square watermelons : clusterflock
Time: July 1, 2008, 3:43 pm
[…] your own square watermelons just like they have in Japan. There is a lesson to be learned […]
Pingback from Seven Traits of Successful People (Reprint) | Moolanomy
Time: July 6, 2008, 6:00 am
[…] in the Post-It Notes. Now, where would 3M be without Post-It? Here is another cool example — square watermelons — who would have […]
Comment from Molly Thomas
Time: July 7, 2008, 4:56 pm
Simple but brilliant idea !!! Thank you so much.
Comment from Saarika
Time: July 10, 2008, 10:28 pm
It indeed re-defines the fact that “IMPOSSIBLE” always carries “I M POSSIBLE” in it………..!!!!!!!!!!!
An amazing Read!!!!!
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