Lateral thinking is a way of problem solving. It encourages you to think outside the box, to come up with creative solutions to problems. Instead of following exactly what you already know or what's been done before, lateral thinking helps you find different, better ways of doing things. It's usually used to solve difficult and complex problems that traditional methods can't. To use lateral thinking, you have to think really creatively and be open to any and all kinds of ideas– even if they seem silly. You might need to brainstorm or come up with multiple solutions before you find the one that works best.