Moving Our Mindset…The Foundation of Innovation

Innovation is all about change. Life is all about change. Therefore we could deduce that without innovation, there is no Life.

This is a new word for me to play with.  In writing this article, I had to think in new ways about what I think about Innovation – so just by engaging with the word, I got a taste of what it’s all about!

Innovation aligns with transformation.  Whether we’re looking at businesses or our individual selves, our innovations need to be for the sake of transformation towards wholeness.  That is the upward evolution that we are called to move towards. I also believe that we can’t find innovation if we’re not fully engaged in the present.

The Mindset for Effective Innovation

As humans, we can ask ourselves, what drives us to innovate?  Dissatisfaction with results, the desire to stretch and attain a new level of something — greater consciousness, more meaningful relationships, successful outcomes – all these are possible if we combine reflection on our current state with clarifying where we want to go and then take appropriate action to get there.

What do I mean by reflection on our current state?  Generally, I believe, if we check in with our inner selves, we find ourselves living out of a certain perspective.  This could be one of anticipation/excitement/curiosity or one of forceful pushing/trying too hard/burning out or one of peaceful acceptance/passive waiting/active resting.  Or a million others!  The mindset we live in is only limited by our imaginations to create it.  What’s important though is become conscious of what it is now.

Here’s an example from a recent client: Caroline (not her real name) was feeling tired and exhausted in her business.  She had had some success and was becoming well known for her work. When she began her business she had felt excited, challenged and full of vitality.  Years had passed.  She had used this energetic passion to create many wonderful offerings.  But now, when she looked inside herself, she felt a complete readiness to either run away or put the whole thing down.  She felt she had no new ideas.  She thought she ‘should’ keep doing what had worked, but felt none of the original passion or creativity that had been there before.  She was uncomfortable with this new place of ‘not knowing what to do’.  She expected herself to always have access to a wellspring of ideas.

Caroline felt a need to innovate her business with something new.  She felt called to change but didn’t know what that would look like.  Making unhealthy demands on herself to come up with ‘answers’ wasn’t working.  In looking at her mindset, she realized she had been in a perspective that only had room for one mode of being: creating and achieving success. In this mindset, she was always ‘on’, never allowing for any ‘off’ time, to rest and renew herself.  Energy was always traveling outward from her – to ideas, implementing them, taking feedback and tweaking them for further success.  However now she saw that she had to create another mindset to innovate her work and keep her authentic self truly present and in charge.

Once this was clear, I took Caroline through a beautiful spiritual process of asking her heart for guidance on what she truly needed to innovate her business.  By becoming quiet and looking within, she discovered a deep need to rest.  To accept where she actually was, and call forth trust that if she listened to her inner guidance and took some time off to just be for awhile, she would receive the renewed enthusiasm and creative juice she was seeking.

She asked for some of that trust, with a side order of patience, to let go of her old thinking.   As she did this, she received insight about how she could work with her day to day schedule in a new way – one that made time for just ‘being’ – stillness and listening in natural surroundings each day.  As Caroline implemented this guidance from within, she found that she was more relaxed.  In just a few weeks, she felt not just renewed from this wonderful new perspective, but also a surge of exciting ideas that she could develop to go forward in a fresh, new way.

Perspective Change Within Lets the Innovation Begin

Are you seeking innovation in your life?  Looking for change that will reinvigorate your spirit and lead to success?  Try taking a look at the perspective that you’re operating out of now – perhaps you’re due for a change from within.  It takes courage and a brave heart to step into the vast landscape of “I don’t know yet”, seeking a new vision.  And yet adjusting our mindset gives us a solid foundation to bring forth authentic innovation for the sake of unconditional success.

Victoria FittsMilgrim, PCC directs True Life Coaching & Retreats in Durango, CO.  With over 25 years in the field of personal transformation she has been a Certified Coach/Retreat Leader since 2002. Her coaching and retreats offer a safe, loving and fun environment to come home to your True Self. Whether working with Victoria via 1:1 coaching, group coaching, taking one of her unique, nature-based retreats, or her Authentic Leadership programs, she is the real deal when it comes to sustainable and positive personal change.  Find our more at www.truelifecoach.net or contact Victoria@truelifecoach.net for a complimentary consult on what’s right for you.

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