Innovate - Time spent doing unrelated things, often helps new ideas surface
Seriously; you need to change your habits. You cannot expect to find inspiration by always looking in the same places. By changing up your routine, you expose yourself to new things, causing your brain to get working, which can spark associations and thoughts that can relate to the very problems you have been struggling over. Why not read a new, different magazine every month? Not cover- to-cover; just scan through. What is to stop you from walking into the local bookstore and picking up the seventeenth magazine from the rack, and then just thumbing through it for ideas? Our brain knows how we think and what we like, so sometimes mixing it up and changing what we give it to digest can cause new insights into our day-to-day worlds, or even a “Eureka” moment.
During grad school, we took a day trip to a museum. I hated the prospect, because we had to wake up at five a.m. to travel two or three hours down to the location, only to spend three to four hours there, and then turn around and come back. What made matters worse was, due to a mix-up in travel arrangements, we had to car-pool with some folks I did not want to be in close quarters with for four to six hours. However, despite my bad attitude, once I arrived there, the visit was amazing. I found myself actually slowing down (admittedly under duress) and taking in beauty, appreciating going slower, and actually seeing and digesting my surroundings. Now, working in IT, how many days, weeks and months go by without you ever stopping to smell the roses? We are so busy, we do not even realize we are avoiding it. My boss was nothing short of gob-smacked when he called and I told him I was out the office at a museum! However, without the interruption to my normal patterns I would never have fully grasped the importance of doing other things or slowing down. So I recommend trying it. Take a half day trip to your local museum, and then ask your team, boss and customers to describe one piece of art they truly enjoyed. Just ask them to go experience it! I know it sounds crazy, but it models the behavior of taking small risks, stepping outside their comfort zones, and being vulnerable. Too big a step? Try it with your spouse or friends first, and just chat about it afterward. I think you will be surprised how rewarding it is.
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