The Innovating Mind Workout

Cultivate an innovative mindset because the world needs your unique creativity.

TLDR: You are creative. The reason you may not feel that might have more to do with opportunity than talent. There’s also a “workout” to help you tap into your creativity and come up with new ideas.

Innovation: Design? Happy Accident? Both?

Most innovation happens in a pressure situation. A problem arises and you, trying to solve the problem, develop a novel, new approach.

That feeling, the new idea or adaption that solved the problem you had, feels good. You feel creative and spontaneous. Your day is a little brighter.

However, the light soon fades as you go back to your routine. There is no problem for you to solve, so no need to be innovative. You may look forward to another opportunity to innovate. Still, you may not be in a hurry to encounter another problem.

What if you could practice your creativity daily? Not because you have so many problems, but because creativity is more like a muscle than a talent.

Much like those who lift weights every day tend to be more muscular than those who do not, those who seem more creative have been in more situations where unique problems need solving.

You can probably guess where this is going. To be more innovative, you have to use your creativity more often.

Please learn to tap into your creativity — the world needs it.

Of course, time is always a factor. No matter how many articles or blogs tell you to “spend time thinking,” your day is busy. You may not have as much control over how you spend your time as others, especially those who write about it. Still, short bursts of intentional effort can yield fantastic results.

Also, training yourself to think without the pressure of a specific problem to solve does not come easily. Lifting weights just for exercise doesn’t come easily either. It takes dedication and discipline, but the results are undeniable.

There is a difference between “Innovation” and “Iteration.”

Sometimes we mistake one for another. Innovation is a novel (read new) approach to a situation, whereas an iteration changes a current one.

Both iterations and innovations are valuable outcomes.

The big innovations, the ones that bring about significant changes, get most of the attention. However, it is arguable that the smaller iterations that happen over time make those giant leaps possible.

When we started shaping clay into a pot (innovation), it changed our lives dramatically. When someone decided to create a handle on the pot (iteration), it dramatically changed the pot. Each change brought a new value to daily life.

Shrink the Change

In “Switch,” authors Chip and Dan Heath explore what helps people make sustainable changes. One of their suggestions is to “shrink the change.” Rather than try to make big, significant changes all at once, break the change down into steps on which you can build.

James Clear, in “Atomic Habits,” echoes the sentiment in a slightly different way. Clear suggests trying to make a 1% improvement regularly. Clear’s research shows that the changes will compound over time, much like money in the stock market. Though it may feel like a humble start, you’d be surprised by how much change you can make quickly.

Have a Framework

The two most challenging parts of a change are where to begin and how to measure progress. A framework helps with both of these issues. A good framework provides guidelines for sparking creative thought without limiting it. It’s like a workout routine. Rather than expending mental energy deciding what to do, you can use your energy to focus on a healthier you.

Be Consistent

Like anything worth doing, an innovative mindset doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time to develop. The time might be different for each person, but it is time nonetheless. Some people get a leg up because of what they do already. If someone has a physically demanding job, they may seem naturally stronger than someone who works from a desk. It looks this way because the physical worker has more reps than the one who sits.

Suppose someone has a background that puts them in multiple creative and collaborative situations. Like the arts, science, or design. In that case, that person gets in many creative “reps.” They may have natural talent, sure, but they also have training. Creative thinking is not magic; it is a time-honed skill.

If you take time regularly to think creatively, you will be more creative. It’s already in you. You simply need to bring it out. It doesn’t take a lot, either.

One myth of exercise is that only after an hour or more do you see results. HIIT training and other recent trends show that you can see results in as little as fifteen minutes, sometimes less.

The amount of time is not as significant as being consistent with the time you choose. If you could spend 30 minutes, three times per week, thinking creatively, you’ll soon find it easier to do so in other situations.

The Workout

The Innovating Mind Workout has three key stages:

• Questions
• Ideas
• Connections

Over thirty minutes, you will choose something to innovate or iterate, ask questions, generate ideas, and look for connections. It’s that simple. So is exercise. Like exercise, the hard part comes in developing the discipline to push through the difficult parts to see growth and progress.

This workout combines the “Question Burst” from Hal Gregersen’s “Questions are the Answer” with an excellent format Jeff Henderson puts in his book, “Know What You Are FOR.”

Here’s how it works:

Choose a Challenge

You will begin by choosing a problem to solve or a person to serve. All great innovation and iteration efforts benefit someone, even if that someone is you.

I suggest you choose from one of the 4 “Ps” typical to most people:

• A Process
• A Product
• A Program
• Something Personal

If you choose a Process, you may want to choose something that takes time and energy you wish you could use elsewhere. Can you speed it up? Can you make it more efficient? Can you eliminate it and give yourself more time?

With a Product, you may look at how to make it better, introduce it in a new context, or use it in ways you wouldn’t expect.

A Program may be old and in need of remodeling. Or it may no longer serve the need it once did. What is still good about it? What could be used on something new? Or would it be more relevant in a new context?

The Personal choice is anything you want it to be. You could think about how you live your life. What changes might you make? Or go big. How would you reimagine Disney World or the iPhone? You are free to play with anything you want.

Once you have your challenge, you are ready to begin your workout. Each phase of the workout is ten minutes. You will need:

• A distraction-free space
• Paper or a notebook
• A writing utensil
• A timer
• Water
• Towel (optional)

Note: The paper and writing utensils are essential. Don’t substitute a computer. Handwriting is better for your brain and allows you to switch mediums (written to visual) quickly.

Warm-Up: Ask Questions

• Write your challenge at the top of your paper.
• Set your timer for 10 minutes.
• Write as many questions as you can imagine in those ten minutes.

You can stand up, walk around, look out the window, get something to drink, just keep your mind focused on questions. Quantity is better than quality. You may also find yourself asking the same question in different ways. That’s great too.

When time is up, look at the questions you generated and choose one to tackle. It doesn’t matter which one, just one that resonates with you. Now you are ready for the heavy lifting.

Heavy Lifting: Idea Generation

• Circle your question of choice.
• Set the timer for 10 minutes.
• Write down as many ideas as you can. Go for quantity. Don’t edit.

Write down any ideas that come to mind. Bad ideas are welcome. Sometimes my best ideas start as bad ones.

When you feel like you are out of ideas, that is the time to dig deep and go for more — kind of like lifting that one more rep or running just a little bit further.

You need as many ideas as you can think of for the burnout phase, which comes next.

Burnout: Make Connections

• Set the timer for 10 minutes.
• Look over your ideas. Make as many connections as you can.
• Play with different combinations of the same idea.

Think of it as stacking LEGO bricks. You put the bricks together to make something new. If you have ever used LEGOS, you know the combinations can be endless. The same is true with combining your ideas.

People created High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) by combining different forms of exercise (cardio and strength training) with different methods of exercise (bodyweight, kettlebell, sandbags, Olympic weights) to create a new experience.

Cool Down: Look Over Your Work

Take a few minutes and look at what you accomplished. Go you! Now, decide if you see something you want to try. If you do, you may need to do another session (in the future) to think through how to implement your idea.

If you don’t see anything you want to do, then toss it. Yes, I said, toss it. More often than not, the ideas won’t work. That is fine. The goal of this workout is to help you access your creativity more freely, so you can get to those breakthrough ideas more easily.

You’ve heard the phrase, “They can’t all be winners.” Well, in the creative world, most ideas are losers. Embrace this mindset and hold those ideas loosely. You will have plenty more.

An alternative way to do this exercise is to join a “group class.” Get some coworkers together and choose a challenge. Then each of you spends a workout addressing the challenge. Come together and compare ideas. Vote on the one everyone likes the best.

Start this workout once per week. Then move to three times a week. When you are ready, try it every day. You’ll be amazed at how you will start thinking about everything.

Sources:

• Atomic Habits, by James Clear
• Know What You Are FOR, by Jeff Henderson
• Questions Are The Answer, by Hal B. Gregersen
• Switch, and Decisive, by Chip and Dan Heath

Ministry Accelerator helps churches and non-profits unlock their creativity so that they can better serve others.