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Innovation is one of the most sought-after objectives of any CEO, leader, and personal growth seeker. More, better ideas are always a good thing, and innovation is perhaps today’s most precious commodity. Those businesses that suffer from a lack of new ideas won’t be around very long.
It may seem counterintuitive to say that innovation can be systematized, but a study of the most successful, innovative businesses reveals that this is certainly the case. Innovators aren’t people who simply have moments of solitary genius. Instead, they are people who prioritize creativity and new ways of thinking about problems, and who are able to create a system for generating and testing new ideas.
A study of these businesses also reveals that the best way to innovate is often to borrow someone else’s idea and tweak it to fit your business or project. There is a common misconception that anything innovative must be brand new. Not the case. It just has to be something that has been improved or applied in a new way that move you forward.
Here’s how you can systematize innovation in your own life and work.
Pay attention to your own experiences. Be sensitive to how things make you think and feel. What problems do you encounter that seem easily fixable? What about your daily life could be improved or streamlined or made more enjoyable?
See stress for what it is. It’s important to recognize that stress and even panic are not signals that your world is falling apart. Instead, stress is a signal to you that you may have a chance to design a new way of doing things. Stressful times present an important opportunity to learn to be flexible, to be creative, to identify problems that need to be solved, to look at old ideas in new ways. Stress in the form of creative pain is something to be embraced, not avoided.
Maintain critical distance. Remember that the relief we often feel following a creative breakthrough may also blind us to awareness of alternatives. Accordingly, we have to maintain some distance from those things we create. Without honesty and self-criticism, one pretty good idea can crowd out other great ideas. The best way to maintain critical distance is to force ourselves to critique what we’ve already done and try to look at it from a completely different and new perspective.