How to Innovate Your Mind
I heard this urban myth about how Steven Spielberg and George Lucas came up with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in a bar with Lucas sketching that iconic Harrison Ford running ahead of the giant rolling boulder scene on the back of a napkin. Imagine that, in a short a space of time, perhaps 1–2 hours, the two of them came up with close to a fully-formed plot of a blockbuster movie!
I love that story — it perfectly illustrates the power of collaboration. The multiplier effect we get from drawing on each other’s strengths, bouncing ideas off each other to organically weave an incredible tapestry of wondrous outcomes. I dare say what they came up with together was far more magnificent than either one would have envisaged alone.
I think collaboration is just one of the many skills we can apply to innovate our minds. As an agile coach, I’m constantly drawing inspiration on how the agile mindset and agile concepts can help us to navigate our personal and professional development. Especially in light of the dramatic changes to many lives and livelihoods in this pandemic, what I’ve realised is:
Life is uncertain. Life is ambiguous. Control what we can control. Make the most of the opportunities you are given. Open your eyes and pay attention always. Pry open doors to see what’s behind them. Be adaptable and mentally prepared to change course. See change as new possibilities. Learn and absorb like a sponge. Reflect often to work out what’s working and what’s not.
1. Innovate How You Think About Life.
In other words, be okay with ambiguity to control what you can.
Remember what you wanted to be when you were growing up? A ballerina? A fireman? Or did you really set out to be an <insert what you currently do for a living>? I never quite had the wisdom nor the clarity to have a fixed profession or career in my head.
Instead, I followed my bliss and mostly chose subjects I enjoyed at university. My college to work-life transition was ambiguous — I had no clear plan. And to be honest, I had no clear professional skills. I was extremely lucky to be hired as a ‘discipline diversity’ hire into a computing company back in the day. Thank goodness they believed in me more than I believed in myself — they felt my generalist Arts degree would be an interesting complement to a pool of geeky Tech graduates.
Even now, I feel like a cat with 9 lives with my career, in that I’ve probably worked in nine or more different roles over the past 25+ years. Had I pursued profession clarify over the joy of learning or certainty over ambiguity, I would never have landed that first job. I would never have experienced an interesting and meandering set of role adventures and opportunities.
Takeaway:
Be innovative about how you think about life. Life doesn’t come with a roadmap. Life is going to throw us all a curveball or three at some point. As long as we are heading in the general direction of where we want to go, even if the road ahead looks a little blurry, have faith that things will work out in the end.
2. Innovate How You View Opportunities.
In other words, make the most of opportunities.
“Some people have all the luck!”
You’ve probably heard some people express that sentiment when they’ve not been the successful one. Maybe you’ve even thought it yourself.
There is no doubt there is an element of luck involved in success, opportunity and, let’s face it, life. But that kind of Lotto luck is not something we can control. Since we can really do something about what we can control, I’m firmly in the camp that believes “You make your own luck.” That is to say, the more we are prepared with our skills, mindset and attitude, the more opportunities we will be able to spot and take.
Nowadays, it’s no longer enough to just rely on Happenstance. That magical convergence where you are at the right place and the right time to take advantage of the opportunity before your eyes.
More than ever, we have to keep our eyes open and pay attention to what’s happening around us and emerging trends coming our way. We have to be innovative and think about how else we can use our talents. If we see closed doors, we have to pry them open to see what’s behind them.
Takeaway:
Be innovative about how you view opportunities. Don’t just be open to opportunities as though someone is going to walk up to you and hand you the opportunity on a silver platter. Be an opportunity seeker, taker and maker.
3. Innovate How You Manage Change.
In other words, think big and wide.
If the global recession brought on by the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that the world can radically change in the blink of an eye. It feels as if overnight, industries have been decimated and lots of people have lost their jobs. Adaptability has never been more crucial. I don’t just mean adapting to new situations. A tectonic shift like this requires the mental adaptability to think differently about change, to acknowledge the new reality so we can plan our next steps.
When the rug has been pulled out from under us, we need to pivot to survive. We need the mental strength, the courage and the emotional adaptability to accept we may need to change course. Only then can we open our eyes to new opportunities. At the practical level, we may need skillset adaptability to apply our skills in completely new professions. We may need to expand how we market and apply our transferable skills in completely new areas. Or even seeing ourselves in a completely different light. Above all, we need to get our head out of the sand and confront the change head on. Face the fear and do it anyway.
Takeaway:
Be innovative about how you manage change. We need to think bigger and wider. We need to be more daring and creative in managing changes to our lives. We need to change our attitude to change, from fear to drive — what is the worst that can happen when there is nothing to lose?
4. Innovate How You Learn and Reflect.
In other words, be curious about your learning and reflection.
I truly believe learning and knowledge is a great equaliser. Not only does it broaden your world and pave the way to new opportunities, but it also gives us the added confidence and self-esteem of ‘I can do it’. Start learning from the position of self-interest — learn more about something you are interested in and curious about. Use that curiosity to open your mind, to fuel your interest in other things and expand your learning.
It’s also important to regularly reflect on our work, life, relationships and behaviours so we can work out what’s working for us and what’s not. Tackle them with curiosity rather than self-recrimination. For example, if something you tried hasn’t worked, don’t just assume it’s your fault or that you weren’t good enough. Instead, think along the lines of “Oh, isn’t it interesting that didn’t work, I wonder what would happen if I tried that?” Particularly in times of volatile change, we need a constructive way to make a series of small changes as we work towards getting on top of the dramatic changes in our lives.
Takeaway:
Be innovative about learning and reflection. Learning expands our skills and our knowledge; it cultivates our perspective on life. Learning and reflection are opportunity feeders. Learning and reflection can make the change journey smoother.
However dramatically Covid has changed your life, I hope you find some inspiration here to innovate your mind.
