By Patrick de Kretser
Innovation is key, the phrase is as simple as that. It is perhaps not so simple to go about trying to unlock that special power in your brain from time to time, since the art of being innovative can be a stressful and time consuming task. We all struggle with being innovative from time to time, which is a struggle that even affects the greatest of minds.
Some of the best novelists often find themselves stalling on a new book or publication for weeks or even years, because they suffer through the dreaded “writer’s block” phase, a term used to coin a situation when a writer struggles to find inspiration and has nothing to show for all his planning. I too struggle with being innovative when I am writing articles, since trying to be unique with every passing week can be quite a challenge unless you find a method to keep the ideas flowing fresh week in and week out.
But inspiration and innovation are two different words with two distinct meanings. To innovate is to transform an idea from a simple thought to a practical reality, but getting that idea in the first place is where the struggle comes into play. And that is exactly where inspiration comes into play. To inspire yourself is to stimulate your mind in such a way that you feel inclined to think, write or do something meaningful and productive. Hence, I thought of a few different methods to go about with achieving that sense of inspiration for any readers who find themselves struggling to be creative in their fields of interest.
- Start from somewhere, but do not start from scratch
- Get out of that stressful environment and move around
- Find yourself a study buddy
- Learn, learn and learn