The opinions expressed by Entrepreneur authors are their very own.
As an entrepreneur who travels over 200 days a 12 months, I’m all too familiar with the relentless work involved in launching, scaling and maintaining a business, charity or social enterprise – and how consuming it might probably be. Like most entrepreneurs, I find the process exciting but sometimes exhausting. It’s a cycle that leaves little room and personal energy for the most significant a part of being an entrepreneur: innovation.
Steve Jobs he said“Innovation is the only way to success. You cannot stand still.” Most entrepreneurs intuitively know that if you stand still, you go backward, because we must assume that our competitors are consistently innovating and moving forward.
While we know how vital it is to take time to innovate, carving out time to simply think and try to come up with the next big idea is not a high enough priority for us in our busy work and personal lives.
While it could be difficult, I have adopted several practices to make “innovation time” as much a a part of my schedule as other key elements of business success, corresponding to financial reviews, preparation for large meetings, or HR oversight.
1. Use your flight time to break away and think
From the airport lounge to getting off the plane, air travel provides a rare opportunity when I do not have any meetings scheduled. The temptation is to use this time to catch up on emails and texts, even while flying at 30,000 feet. But once we’re up in the air, I put my phone away and use that time to read, journal, or close my eyes and think.
This intentional break from reality helps clear my mind and open it to reflections and recent ideas that do not often arise during hectic days at work or busy evenings and weekends with family.
2. Mentoring walks
One of my favorite practices is to take a long walk or hike with one of my mentors – preferably in a distant and quiet place, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I learned this method from one of my early mentors, Richard Branson, and continued it over the years, often walking with him and other mentors.
Walks in nature calm our minds and give us time to think and discuss big ideas and challenges. The free flow of conversation, movement and peace in the great outdoors might be transformative and have led to some of my biggest breakthrough innovations. During one of those walks, with one other mentor, eBay’s founding CEO Jeff Skoll, we developed an entire social enterprise model that we later launched and ran for over a decade.
Given the logistics of carving out a few hours for each me and my mentor, it takes work to do them greater than twice a 12 months. But this process recharges me and inspires thoughts and ideas that I can return to on my very own during future hours of innovation.
3. Block “innovation hours” on your calendar
Consistently making time for innovation needs to be a non-negotiable a part of your weekly schedule. This could seem obvious to most, but the key is to follow the rules and actually use your time as intended.
Blocking out time for innovation in my calendar also jogs my memory that innovation is a priority for me and sends a signal to my team that they too should prioritize innovation in their schedules.
I’ve learned to be ruthless about protecting these hours because something all the time comes up that might be perceived as more urgent or vital.
4. Uptime might be a time for innovation
Most of us recognize the physical and mental health advantages of normal exercise. However, it might probably even be a tool for unleashing innovation. Exercise increases your heart rate and releases endorphins, which may often lead to clear and uninterrupted pondering.
It also teaches us that if we put in the work, we will overcome challenges. Whether it’s achieving a recent personal best on the bench press, reducing your 3-mile run time, or coming up with the perfect deal for that one client, the solutions to overcome physical and business challenges can sometimes overlap. Both require focus and a willingness to push through discomfort to achieve a breakthrough.
I’ve had a few “eureka” moments mid-lift or mid-yoga. When we are fully immersed in a physical task, our minds are free to wander and intuitively seek solutions to problems that have been subconsciously plaguing our conscious minds.
So put these workouts in your calendar and protect them similar to you’d your innovation hours. I bet you may get back into higher shape soon and have a few “eureka” moments.
Once we accept that innovation is crucial to the continued development of our firms and organizations, we must consciously take time on a regular basis to give our minds space to innovate.
Your next big innovation probably is not as distant as you may think. You just need to sensibly give your mind time to unblock it.