Daily Habits to Boost Your Innovative Thinking
Do you know any innovative thinkers? Guess what? They probably were not born with that ability. Innovation is a skill, and like any skill, you can improve upon it over time. Here are a few practices and routines that can enhance your ability to think innovatively and creatively.
Practice Associative Thinking
Do you draw conclusions from seemingly unrelated things? Can you recognize patterns of ideas, thoughts, and behaviors in yourself and those around you? If so, you are an associative thinker.
Associative thinking is the cognitive ability to analyze exterior actions and your internal thoughts and memories to spot patterns. You use this information to form new, innovative solutions and creative processes.
Let your mind wander without direction. Look for associations between elements and factors in an environment or situation, even if they seem unrelated. Look at existing ideas and try to associate them in unique ways. Embrace the idea that the unrelated can be related to producing a new, unknown, or unimplemented solution.
Practice Positive Thinking
Innovators are sure that if they don't have the answers they are looking for now, they will discover them. Positive thinkers are more likely to create innovative solutions than those who limit their options with a negative mindset.
Be Curious
Curiosity is a requisite trait of the innovative. Look for new ideas and opinions. Open your mind to nontraditional actions and solutions. Look for mental inspiration from individuals, social media accounts, and blogs related to the field or the problem. Ask others involved to adopt a curious mindset.
Reframe Failures
Reframing failure should become an unconscious habit. Failures and stumbling blocks are opportunities. A flat tire on your car is an opportunity to learn how to change a car tire. It is a chance to catch a ride with a coworker and learn more about them. Innovators see problems as opportunities.
Innovation Requires Practice
The habits we repeat regularly shape us, for good or bad. Think about what you eat and your exercise habits, or lack thereof. They influence who you become. Your repetitive behaviors, whether driven by subconscious or conscious motivations, help you create your reality.
As Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
We just shared some proven tips for boosting innovative, creative thinking. Put them to work, and give them time to pay off. Some studies show that a conscious action takes at least 21 repetitive days of practice to become an unconscious habit. Innovation requires unique, creative practice. Fit one or more of these practices into your daily routine to become an innovator.