Innovation in Me

Innovation is the word of the new millennium.  Innovation is taken to mean not just technical innovation but personal innovation. To keep pace with the new world, we need to innovate ourselves.

Innovation is a talent that everyone has, yet they think they don't. There is power in innovation. Maybe you’re mesmerized by somebody's creative prowess and ingenuity; fret not, you too can create and innovate. It takes only time, concentration and desire to innovate. Everyone is born with a creative juice. The box of crayons in kindergarten was not only for the kids you possessed the talent or potential; it was for every kid in kindergarten because the truth is that everybody has potential.

Do you remember how long it took to learn to ride a bike or drive or to never commit the same mistake again? The same is true with innovation. It takes a lot of practice and patience before this mind function comes easily when called and when it does it comes naturally. Bringing out those inherent creative juices from you takes time and prodding.

Don't listen to the negative things that people say. Follow the beat of your heart; follow your gut feel. Allowing for the input of other people will only bring cacophony to the music you are trying to make. If you have an original idea, don't waste your time and effort trying to make people understand. They most likely won't. If all the geniuses listened to their peers, we would probably still be living in the middle ages.

Spend time on your ideas. I don’t mean to tell you to quit your job and jump on to implement your idea. Rather, manage your time wisely so that you can spend time to grow and develop your ideas. 

Exercise, take a walk, run a mile or two. Send all those endorphins coursing through your veins to clear and relax your mind and allow ideas to pop out from it.  

Dreams have meanings; record your dreams. Some dreams are just the craziest things that your conscious mind would never have thought of. In these crazy dreams are untapped innovative powers you have lying within. Make notes of your dream as these may just create an innovative spark in you.

Don’t copy or replicate; find your own style. It cannot be called an innovation if it was a mere adaptation of someone else’s work.  People will appreciate your innovation more when it is uniquely yours.

It doesn’t matter if you lack gadgets or tools. A masterpiece is produced not from the most expensive set of paints but from the most creative mind. You don't need some expensive fountain pen or a flashy laptop to write a best seller. J.K. Rowling wrote the first book of the Harry Potter Series on bits of tissue.

Innovation starts with passion. Why do you wake up in the morning? What keeps you going? What is your utmost desire? Sometimes people with talent are overtaken by the people who want it more. Do you remember the hare and the tortoise? The tortoise won the race because he simply desires and worked to win. Ellen DeGeneres once said that if you're not doing something that you want to do, then you don't really want to do it. When you want something so bad, you become virtually unstoppable. That, my friend, is passion. Passion will keep you going. 

Sometimes, you don’t even need inspiration. You can’t face inspiration; you can't force it. Inspiration will hit you when you least expect it; be always prepared. An idea could strike you on the subway and it will be unfortunate if you don’t have a sheet of paper to scribble down an idea that could change the world. Always have a pen and paper within your reach at all times.

I hope these tips helped perk up your creative juices. Above all, keep in mind that you are doing these things for your own satisfaction and not for anybody else's. Whether you like it or not, your innovation, personal or otherwise, will soon be noticed and everything would snowball from there.