Solid Foundations for Innovators
If you want to build the solid foundations to be truly innovative, three main fundamentals are required, in my opinion.
And they all need to be present, at the same time, and with the same force, if you want to be successfully creative.
The Powerful Three Fundementals
I didn’t discover these essential building blocks from theory or sitting around thinking about them… or by searching for a magic formula in self-help books.
Uncovering and making them work took experimentation, practise, and application in real life.
And I am now witness, and happily a beneficiary, of the power of the following three fundamentals for innovating.
Confidence
Having written about this in a previous blog post, I won’t labour the point again here. Suffice to say, confidence is a crucial brick for your innovation bedrock, especially when you have mastered balancing it with assertiveness and humility.
A healthy dose of confidence is also essential when it comes to viewing failures objectively.
Trust me: failures will happen. But when confident, you can view them as the great learning opportunities they are, rather than as overly negative events.
So, check out my post, How Is Your Confidence? and take an honest look at yours, dust it down, re-align it, and get practising.
Competence
I can almost hear the cries now: ‘Of course, I’m competent, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I weren’t.’
Actually, yes — in regard the competence to which I am referring, you could be lacking.
You see, even though you are competent in one area, you should always be seeking to stretch yourself and learn new things, even if they have nothing to do with your daily activities.
Look for activities that might initially scare you. You may well discover that you are pants at whatever it is (I know I did with some), but the very act of trying forces new synaptic pathways in your brain.
And you can use these new neural pathways to good effect during innovation, even after the task attempted is over.
Belief
Belief is my third fundamental for successful innovation. You really must believe!
First, you need belief in yourself (that you deserve good things, can come up with valuable ideas, and can make a difference).
Next, you must believe you are more than capable of achieving the exciting future you see for yourself.
I kid you not — if you can get your belief to the point where anything other than reaching your goal is inconceivable, you are in a good place mentally to get it.
Please note, that does not mean you will never have doubts…
You will need to jump on any doubt as soon as it rises and squash it by repeating all the positive beliefs you’ve come up with about yourself and what you are doing.
A strong belief system will equip you with the strength needed to ignore the naysayers, those people who tell you it can’t or shouldn’t work. It will also provide the impetus to keep striving and moving forward.
When partnered with confidence and competence, a solid belief system will keep the door wide open to the flow of innovative thoughts and ideas.
And when you hit an obstacle, it will automatically throw alternatives at you before stress and worry can gain a foothold.
No excuses, please
Distractions are no excuse for failing to hone these three innovating fundamentals.
Without wishing to sound harsh, being too busy is just a lazy excuse. You don’t say you’re too busy to have something to eat or drink. Likewise, you don’t omit to visit the restroom because you’re too busy, right?
The truth is, you can use your busyness as the tool to hone and practise the fundamentals as you go about your day.
The solutions are in your hands
Remember, no one else is going to pop up and hand you a bright and satisfying existence. (Thankfully, the idea of the wish fairy or genie has generally been debunked.)
Innovation and creative solutions are very much in your hands — and you can harness and use them to achieve your full potential.
Get your three fundamentals of innovating humming along in unison and harmony, and you’ll discover the same.
And I know and believe that you are more than capable of doing so 🙂
What do you think?
I’d love to hear your thoughts — do you have any other key building blocks for innovating? Let me know in the comments section below!
As a leadership trainer and professional online speaker, I help individuals and businesses move forward and overcome challenges with confidence, strength, and compassion. To discover how I can assist you, check out my in-person and virtual services.
Alternatively, contact me and let’s connect.
