Statistics show that 80% to 85% of people are ‘followers’ and that would imply that this group of people is incapable of being innovative. But that is actually a misconception, because there is more to people than what other countries initially show. A major influencing factor is ‘wanting’ and wanting is in many cases possible. But what does that mean? Wanting something is very important, because that says something about your thinking and perseverance. You have now taken a first important step. However, the process is slightly different than for the creative person par excellence. While the creative person can alternate between loneliness and the stimuli that city life can provide, for example, the person who wants to be innovative will have to rely mainly on the stimuli that come from outside. Provided you open yourself up to it.
To work
If you make an effort, it is good to adhere to some conditions or rules. This ensures that a process is started that can stimulate you.
- Already mentioned earlier, but it is absolutely important to look for incentives. Looking for incentives can be very diverse. Think of the city environment, but also events, a day at the beach, a pop festival, a museum or a restaurant. Where there are people, things happen, situations arise. Sometimes the impact is (apparently) minimal, but if you are alert, the smallest detail can inspire you. This also means that it is good to take a strategic position when you go out into the crowd.
- Do something with your anger. Every person is sometimes (or often) angry and that anger produces adrenaline. In this phase you are extra alert and use this state of being and benefit from it. If you are still in your angry phase, it is good to look around you or pick up something that has been there for a while (for example, for which you had no inspiration before). Immerse yourself in it and go wild with it. There is a good chance that you will take a step further.
- Setting goals can help everyone. This way you can start by thinking of a number of new things. It doesn’t matter what, but set yourself the goal of thinking of five things that day. But of course it must be innovative. You don’t have to wonder whether it can be achieved. For example, a fruit peeling machine could encourage many more people to eat fruit… but I have no idea whether it can be achieved. You can get an idea like this if you hear someone complaining about a dirty fruit peel, someone who says they get dirty hands from fruit or someone who has difficulty with packaging.
- It may sound a bit disrespectful, but it is good for the renewal process to give your circle of acquaintances some new blood every now and then. If you keep going around in the same circle for a long time, nothing productive will come of it.
- If you have some ideas, it is good to write them down and put them away. Give it space to mature, distance yourself from it. It may be that some of your ideas can now be thrown to the trash bin, but some can also be enriched if you have not looked at them for a while.
- If you want to work innovatively, you should always have something with you that you can leave a brainwave behind. There is a good chance that if you don’t do this, you will lose the brainwave shortly afterwards. Whether it’s a notebook, your diary or an electronic device where you can leave something behind, it doesn’t matter. As long as you can capture it.
To trust
See this list as a number of opportunities to be innovative, to want the minimum and put in the effort. The fact is that enforcement does not work. Setting goals is important, but if nothing really comes to fruition, forcing them is not an option.
An important point is that you have to have and maintain confidence in yourself. You have set yourself the goal of working innovatively. A number of options have been suggested that can stimulate this process, but you have to have confidence that it will actually happen. Sometimes it just takes a little more time and you have to respect that. You also have to give yourself the space that you may sometimes come up with ideas that don’t go anywhere, but that’s okay. That’s just how this process works.
Finally
If you have set yourself the goal that you want to work innovatively and you have a certain degree of impatience, it can be or seem like a difficult process. But as long as you have confidence in yourself and you don’t do it out of some kind of compulsion because until that 80% to 85% is not done, there is nothing to worry about. That 80% to 85% of the mass is also okay. You have to really want it and dare to go for it, only then do you have a chance of succeeding in this process.