How Curiosity and Innovation Work Together for Your Business

The Answer is Creativity

You might be wondering, how does curiosity lead to innovation?

Have you ever had a problem that you needed some sort of solution, and then you kept thinking about how you could possibly solve it?

And from there, maybe you even discovered something that could be helpful, or created your own system for it.

Then, maybe you even started telling all your friends about it because, certainly, if you have this problem, other people probably do, too.

Does this feel or sound familiar at all?

The truth of the matter is that curiosity and innovation just go hand in hand. Curiosity explores concepts and asks questions that inspire innovation!

So, how can you use curiosity to get more innovative?

The trick here is to use both curiosity and innovation to their fullest potential.

Whenever you start getting a little curious about something (especially ways to improve a situation, your life, anything), start getting creative. Let yourself wander and wonder about what you can do and out of the box ways to handle that situation. As those creative juices start flowing, you’ll start coming up with new ideas (innovation!) that you can try out.

Let’s explore each of these really quickly.

Curiosity is that spark that triggers creativity. It leads you to want to learn more and explore, and maybe, with enough motivation, it’ll even make you want to start innovating.

Creativity is the ability to create; the use of imagination and original ideas. In business (and day to day life), this can translate into using your imagination to help solve a problem or work through a challenge.

Innovation is all about introducing new ideas, products, and ways of doing things. You might already notice the room for overlap between the two, or see how one can lead into the other.

Creativity and innovation work together to bring new and exciting ideas for products, services, and solutions into your life and business. If something isn't working as efficiently as it should be, then innovation can find a way to make it better. If you’re having a problem, maybe you can find a creative solution with innovation.

It all works hand in hand to transform the way you work and what you can offer.

Taking Action

When you’re being creative (especially for the sake of solving a problem and not just the creative act), you need to remember your why. The creative process can be grueling. That’s why artists of all types get blocked at times—it’s really hard to just be on all the time! It also requires a lot of patience and brain power, and in the hustle and bustle of life, we might feel like we don’t have time to sit and wait for it to hit us.

This is where your why comes in.

I’ve talked previously about how important it is to know your why and hang onto it, because it’ll help you keep putting in the work, even when it gets exhausting and you don’t want to think about it anymore. That is the same with this. So, step 1, know your why and hang onto it!

Step 2 is where we turn alllllll of this into action.

Try out a variety of brainstorming techniques. Think of these as tools, you might have many brainstorming techniques, but you might need to use different ones to access your creativity situationally.

Here are some of my favorites:

• If you’re working in a group, try writing down ideas and passing them to the next person in your group to see what they have to add. Stacking different points of view can create a more well rounded idea, but it can also introduce you to new ideas that spark even more creativity.
• Have a brain dump! Literally set a timer and write down everything that comes to mind. At the end of your time, look over your ideas. Do you have any that stick? Has reading over your ideas inspired you?
• Mind mapping is great, especially for visual people or those problems that need something visual in order to solve. The way this usually works is by starting with a main idea and then branching off as you get to more ideas and forming more connections. This also can help get extra creative juices flowing because of the nature of using multiple kinds of creativity through the process.
• Try deliberately looking at it from different angles. Working with other perspectives can introduce other ideas that can trigger you to think of new things, or to see things a little differently. As you brainstorm, take some time to think of it from all sorts of angles. If you’re having a hard time figuring out what other perspectives to think of it from, you can get inspiration from a fictional character, historical figure, friend/family member, or even archetype.

If you still need some help, you can create your own creative/innovative process. This could take some trial and error in order to understand how you best work, but should help you build a routine to help accomplish whatever innovative goals you have.

You can also try incorporating things that just inspire your creative juices. This could be something small, like listening to music while you work, or something bigger like starting a new creative hobby to keep you in a more creative headspace. The possibilities are endless.

As you can see, curiosity, innovation and creativity work together seamlessly, and, if harnessed properly, you can use the power of all three to take your business (and/or life) to the next level.

Feel free to reach out with any questions, or to tell me about one of your favorite brainstorming methods!