Innovation is a State of Mind

Chapter 5 Innovation in your own life

Innovation isn't just about thinking up ways to improve your business. You can apply the principles of innovative thinking to any aspect of your life. It's about questioning everything you do, asking yourself if there might be a better way, taking some time to think of ways to improve things, and then implementing your best ideas.

Some people are very innovative in how they do their job or run their business, but much less so in how they lead their life.

How can you be innovative in your life? Once again, by thinking of ideas, valuing those ideas and then using them. Let me give you an example.

I went to a private school in Canberra, and then studied economics and law at Sydney University, mainly because I wasn't sure what else to do. In my final year at university everyone seemed to be aiming for a job at a big corporate law firm, so I tried too and managed to land one. But even before I started I kind of knew that being a corporate lawyer wasn't for me. I realised that although I had had many educational and other opportunities, because I had just gone with the flow and never questioned anything I was going to end up in the wrong place. I had let myself drift into a career that looked good from the outside, but that I was ill suited to.

So for the first time in my life (without even realising I was doing it) I went through the think, value, use process.

Think

I tried to imagine what I would do if I could do anything I wanted to, and ...