Innovation involves creativity. It is the process by which an old process is improved or replaced with a better alternative. The whole process of innovating is encapsulated in change because for you to innovate you must change an already established procedure for the better or anew.
Innovation is very important because it makes you stand out from your competition. Constant innovation helps you to lead in the market if you are selling a product. To succeed in business or any other area of life, you must innovate. Innovation is one of the most important drivers of business and companies.
In this article, we will be discussing 10 ways you can become innovative and embrace change.
HOW TO BE INNOVATIVE AND EMBRACE CHANGE?
- Get it right
For you to be innovative, you must have the right mindset towards innovation. What this means is that you must be ready to adopt change when necessary. You must also be ready to grow. An innovative person must be willing to take risks and also, must realize that the world is an ever-changing place that requires constant learning. So, in getting it right you must be ready to learn.
- Be persistent and consistent
For you to be more innovative, you must be consistent and persistent. You do not necessarily have to be talented, but when you are consistent and persistent with what you do, ideas come.
To keep up persistence and consistency, you must make sure you are motivated. When possible, reward yourself. You cannot have innovative ideas in a job you do not enjoy doing.
- Keep a record of your ideas
Always keep note of your ideas. Make sure your ideas are recorded. This way, you can keep track of your moments of epiphany.
Your ideas are best written down. This is because some ideas need evaluation, refining, and reconstruction. No matter how retentive your memory might be, you may not be able to do the above by heart.
- Feed your mind
To get innovative ideas, your mind must be sound. Learn new things – it may be a new skill or musical instrument. Just sharpen your mind. When your mind is sharpened, it can easily manipulate thoughts and come up with great ideas.
- Be curious; ask questions.
When you always ask questions, you don’t just accept assumptions people swallow hook, line, and sinker. You get to the root of everything and that way come up with great ideas. When you ask questions, you understand the working principles of concepts and are open to change.
When you ask more questions, your imagination is triggered and then you begin to consider more options and are open to change.
Ask, why? How come? Since when? If not this method? What if?
Ask, internally and externally, to understand how things work, why they work the way they do, and how they can be changed for the better.
- Remove limitations of the mind.
Innovative people believe in possibilities. To innovate, the mind must be free of thoughts that clamp it down. We must make sure your thought is devoid of self-limiting beliefs. This is because what we believe can either be our propelling force or what clamps us down. Develop the habit of saying ‘Why not’ instead of ‘I can’t ‘, ‘let’s try’ instead of ‘it can’t be done’. Think positive!
If you are going to be an innovative person, then you must not be limited by old patterns. Develop a can-do attitude towards embracing new ways.
- Embrace your seemingly crazy ideas
Some ideas you come up with may seem crazy and ridiculous, but there’s no harm in testing them out. Try out those ideas, come up with new ways to do old things. Those crazy ideas of yours may end up being brilliant innovations that would cause major changes. Do not discount any of your ideas, always test them.
- It’s okay to be scared
To come up with great innovations, it’s okay to be scared of the what-ifs, but one thing you must make sure of is that you do enough to override your fears.
Understand that there is a difference between fear and cowardice. There is also a difference between bravery and fearlessness. To be an innovator who would come about with positive change, it is okay to fear, but do not embrace cowardice. Take a step of bravery.
When you try to rule out your fear totally, you may end up killing your creativity too. Just ride through your fear with bravery. Do not let your fear dictate the decisions you make. Allow your fears to live and make sure they are the propelling forces that keep you going.
- Learn all you can as long as you can.
The best innovators in the world are great learners. Learn all you can. It doesn’t matter if you are just a business administrator, learn technology, art, sciences, humanities, and many more subject matters. Make sure you have an idea of most things. This is because the knowledge you may need to initiate the change you so desire may not come from your particular field of expertise. Many of the times innovations come as a combination of ideas from different fields. You do not necessarily need to have an interest in a field before learning things in the field.
The end-product of learning is innovation.
- Innovate with others.
Great innovators understand that they do not know it all. Make sure you work together with others, whether as a team or just mentors you get ideas from. These people do not necessarily have to be experts but you would be shocked at how much they have to contribute. Surprisingly, they may even have more ideas to offer than you imagined. Whilst at this make sure you listen. Do not be quick to discard their inputs, because their seemingly ‘weird’ ideas have the same great potentials as your ‘crazy’ ideas.
BOTTOMLINE
Innovation comes with change. If you want to be an innovator, you must be ready to embrace change. You must be ready to think and act outside the box.