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| Innovation Is A State Of Mind |
You probably know the myth of innovation as a sudden flash of insight that comes from nowhere. We read about that "aha" moment, or that light bulb turning on in the mind of some inventor or innovator, and this is true to an extent. Einstein did get flashes of insight while shaving in the morning. However, he was, of course, working on the particular problems he had insight into, and he didn't suddenly have ideas for new kitchen gadgets or movie plots.
Innovative people only have "sudden" new ideas because they have habitually worked and thought in specific ways for some time. Einstein's innovations, in other words, no matter how "sudden" the original ideas were, came from past and present mental work. If you want to become a creative thinker, why not cultivate those mental habits? It is like a singer who works at his craft for ten years and then becomes an "overnight success."
