What makes an innovative thinker?
Whether you’re a tech entrepreneur, a busy professional, an ambitious student, or an overworked parent, you could probably do with a bit of extra oomph – a way to learn or work faster, increase productivity and keep your head above the tide. Innovative thinking has been touted as a way to achieve this. But what is it really? And how do you do it?
Before we dive in, a few definitions will help. Innovation itself, can, for our purposes, be defined as, ‘doing something new – or doing something old in a new way’.
It’s about originality, invention and creation. It drives productivity, shapes technological advance, and lies at the root of economic, social and political progress. So, it’s something worth taking an interest in.
By direct extension, innovative thought would be, ‘thinking up something new – or thinking about something old in a new way.’ It’s embodied by the creative problem solver – one who sets their mind to the task of improving the world. Given the times we live in and the challenges we face, we might benefit from a few more of those. If you’re thinking, ‘But I’m not innovative?’, then read on.
How to nurture innovative thought
Firstly, you can’t reinvent something before knowing how it already is. This means nobody is born an innovative thinker (although some may be better at it than others) – and it may explain why solutions haven’t jumped out at you in the past. Even Mozart had to learn to appreciate and understand music before he could evolve it. Just like him, you need to gain experience in a chosen field, to become familiar with the terrain.
Once you’ve done your research and got familiar with the topic, you’re ready for the next step – selecting a problem to work on. This should be straightforward, there being no shortage of challenges to test yourself with. And having surveyed the woods a bit, before plunging into the trees, you’ll doubtless have encountered a whole bunch of juicy problems, ripe for your attention.
Now is the fun stage, what you probably envisage when you picture an innovative thinker. You need to start looking at the problem from new and novel perspectives. ‘How on earth do I do that?’ you say. Well, there’s some tricks to the trade. Try a few of these techniques to get out of your default way of seeing the world – and unleash the creative within you:
Relax: racing thoughts and busy minds block our creative flow. The best ideas tend to spring to mind all of their own, when we’re holding a problem lightly in a calm, unforced mind.
Meditate: meditation can train the mind to slow down, stay present and be focused yet relaxed (among many other benefits and aims). This can restore mental balance even during stressful periods of life, helping support an innovative mindset.
Be open to your thoughts: while contemplating your chosen problem, don’t always discard a thought just because it makes no obvious sense – it may be the key you’re looking for. If a persistent thought doesn’t make immediate sense, remember it may lead to other thoughts that do, if you give it time.
Expand your knowledge: foster a real thirst for knowledge. It’s the fuel that innovation runs on.
Read widely: connecting two apparently unrelated ideas is fundamental to creativity (and innovation). The more you know, especially about unrelated topics, the more likely is an innovative breakthrough.
Make notes: when a golden idea hits, you won’t want to forget it. So get in the habit of jotting down all your interesting thoughts, whenever they pop up.
Don’t censor yourself: the cardinal mistake people make is evaluating ideas as they arise. This immediately cuts off the creative flow. Instead, take a page from the novelists: write hot and edit cold – that is, let ideas flow freely, and worry about making sense of them later.
Doing new things, or old things in new ways, is not necessarily easy. Essentially, it means breaking lifelong habits. But that doesn’t have to be the long, hard grind that it sounds. Rather than fighting the old, you’re looking to ‘forget it’ and use these techniques to shift yourself into a relaxed, creative space.
Just remember, keeping your competitive edge in today’s world may require out-innovating those around you. So if you’re struggling to find that breakthrough, or you’re stuck in a rut, the smart option could be to chill-out and get creative.
