Sometimes you have to just step outside the dots

Some nice malaphor advice.  I believe this is a mash up of “think outside the box” (think freely without adherence to old rules or ideas) and “connect the dots” (to understand the relationship between different ideas and experiences).  The words “box” and “dots” are the culprits, both sounding similar.  Not sure where “step” comes into play, but perhaps the speaker had in mind “step in the right direction” or “step in line”, or maybe even “walk on the wild side”?  I know the speaker is a Lou Reed fan, so that is a real possibility.  As in all great malaphors, there is a bit of a mystery how the brain produces one.  A shout out to Lisa Davies O’Donnell, the malaphoree, who heard her husband Tim, the malaphorer, say this one.