Countless times, we see people taking on new and innovative life challenges and succeeding, consolidating their effort, creativity, and energy into outstanding results. They have skills and characteristics that, at first glance, seem unique, and which are easily recognized by those who admire these achievements.
It's worth asking, then: Is the ability to innovate a seed embedded in our DNA, or is it something we can develop?
Let's think about our social and work environment and all the innovative projects we know, from the simplest to the most sophisticated. Could we say that the people who created them are beings who possess that unique energy from birth? What do all successful innovators have in common? Why is it so easy for some to create and not for others?
The truth is that there are undoubtedly genetic or brain-based components that could lead someone to have a creative mind, allowing them to innovate successfully more easily. But, along with this, we cannot deny that when we closely observe a group of innovative minds, we will find that some of their competencies and skills are the result of constant learning, practice, and work.
The ability to generate relationships by connecting diverse elements, to detect needs where others don't, to imagine scenarios ranging from optimal to extreme, to visualize potential limitations, and to constantly question oneself are some of the characteristics of innovative minds.
Observing the environment in detail to take the step toward experimentation in different contexts, sensing that the world itself is a vast laboratory, is an element that innovators masterfully manage. The motto here is: learning by doing.
This set of elements present in the innovative individual could not be detected without a prior impulse, which generates the key movement for change: leaving the comfort zone. When the decision to change is made, it is when the person dares to leave behind that routine, low-risk space. It is outside the comfort zone where invention, flow, and learning occur; it is there that the restless spirit of looking beyond what we see and know truly grows.
Thus, it's possible to argue that, combined with our biological makeup, our life experiences, and our intense desire to learn and challenge ourselves, we develop a greater capacity for innovation. By putting the aforementioned behaviors into practice and practicing them, we can act more innovatively, especially if it connects with our rational purpose of transcending into new creative worlds.