Four daily habits for innovators
Innovation is critical to every organisation’s long term success. Below are four habits you and your team can practice to become more innovative.
Practice Curiosity
Most of the breakthrough discoveries and inventions throughout history were the result of curiosity. Research shows that when our curiosity is triggered:
We more easily adapt to changes and external pressures
We think more deeply and rationally about decisions and come up with more creative solutions.
We develop more trusting and collaborative relationships with our co-workers.
At its core curiosity is about asking questions and seeking answers, both of other people and of ourselves.
2. Keep an Ideas Journal
Keeping an ideas journal is a great way to consciously nurture our creativity. Leonardo da Vinci famously kept a journal of sketches, scientific diagrams, ideas for new inventions and reflections on art.
Ideas are often fleeting and writing them down is a great way to remember them for development later. The act of writing something down also helps to clarify our thinking. Keeping an idea journey can also make us better observers. It reminds us we can seek inspiration and ideas from many places around us.
Reviewing your idea journal also can act to motivate you. It reminds us to constantly strive to innovate and improve.
3. Try an Experiment
To be innovative you have to experiment.
It is easy to get stuck in analysis paralysis about new ideas and spend too much time analyzing them, meeting about them and documenting them.
To innovate it is important to be constantly testing new ideas by trying them out.
4. Always Be Pitching
Every time you explain an idea to someone else you are pitching it.
Some benefits of pitching your ideas are:
It forces you to clarify your ideas so that they clear and compelling to others.
It allows you to collect feedback on them. Positive feedback can help to motivate you. Hearing objections can help you refine your idea and make it stronger.
It helps to get others onboard and improve the chance the idea will get successfully acted upon.
Some general tips for pitching your ideas are:
Be passionate. If you are excited about an idea it is more likely others will be too.
Know the details. Making sure your idea is properly thought out allows you to avoid the mistake of pitching ideas that may not work or are impractical.
Tell a story. A great story can help create an emotional bond with an idea that is memorable and compelling.
