Far too much of what we know about creativity isn’t based on facts at all. 

A summary of 10 realities of innovation:

1. Flashes of insight or great spontaneous ideas rarely create innovation.  

All ideas are made from other ideas. Also, a great idea alone will not find investors usually. Make prototypes, sacrifice free time or persist in the face of rejection.

2. Technological progress does not move in a straight line.

History is not a straight line of progress: it wasn’t clear that B would follow A, until after they happened, which means the present isn’t a straight line of progress either. Edison did not invent the lightbulb, and Ford did not invent the assembly line (These are inspiring lies).

3. There is no method for market success. 

The challenge with creative work, especially in a marketplace, is the many factors beyond your control. You can do everything right and still fail. The idea of an innovation portfolio, where a range of risk is assumed across multiple ideas, is more honest.

4. People resist change, including progress.

The history of breakthroughs is a tale of persistence against rejection. Much of what makes a successful innovator is their ability to persuade and convince conservative people of the merits of their ideas, a very different skill from creativity itself. Ideas are rejected because of how they make people feel. Your ability to pitch ideas is of matter.

5. We overstate individual contributions and under-recognized teams.

Stories of mad geniuses who worked entirely alone are rare. But even people worthy of the title genius had teachers who taught them. Or they shared patents with co-workers.

6.  Good ideas are everywhere, it’s courage that’s scarce.

We are built for creativity. The problem is the conventions of adult life demand conformity, and we sacrifice our creative instincts in favor of social status. What’s uncommon is people with the conviction to put their reputation behind ideas.

7. People in charge often resist change.

To rise in power demands good political judgement, yet innovation requires a willingness to defy convention. Convention-defiers are harder to promote in most organizations, yet essential for progress.

8. It is not the best idea that wins.

Marketing, politics, and timing have a tremendous influence on why one idea or its competitors wins, yet these details are more complex than we want to hear and fade from history.

9. Defining problems well is as important as solving them.

The impatient run at full speed into solving things, speeding right past the insights needed to find a great solution. Successful creators spend more time thinking about the problem than the media would have us believe.

10. Unintended consequences are hard to avoid.

All innovation is change, and all change helps some people and hurts others. Many horrible inventions were created with the best intentions (and some horrible intentions led to some good consequences).

Many distractions or obligations may hinder you from sticking to the goals that you are excited about. These tips can help you to stay on track and to continuous progress.

1. Visualize daily.

Your goals and dreams should be apparent to you daily. Every morning you have the chance to mindful about why you have chosen a goal and what the result could be.

2. Scoring.

Monitoring your progress helps you to have an understanding of the daily little steps that you do toward your goal and make it easier for you to keep patient towards growth.

3. Accountability support.

You can share your thoughts about what you are trying to accomplish, when and how you will pursue your steps and how your journey will look like.

On a top level it is useful to envision yourself within a wider purpose. A simple approach to seeking clarity is to focus on four things: self, skills, social, and service.

Your Purpose:

• Self - How do you want to describe your ideal self? 

It is helpful to be clear on what dimension you want to grow into.

• Social - How do you want to behave socially?

Be clear on what you want to be and how you want to interact with others.

• Skills - What skills do you want to develop and demonstrate? 

Be clear on what 3 skills are you currently working to develop so you’ll become more successful this year.

• Service - What service do you want to provide?

Be clear on how you can serve your peers.

Your Role:

These four areas are a foundation to understand the role you are attempting to playing better as well.

As a rule-of-thumb, leaders can cast themselves in one of four general roles:

1. As an expert in this field
   – or the protector of the organization’s culture.
   Corporate leaders who are attempting to be an expert will keep a close watch on their human resources and continuously evaluate whether the right people are in place and how best to groom the next generation of business leaders. Experts always attempt to make rational decisions based on facts rather than opinions.
   
   
2. As a visionary
   - whose passion is the main driving force in everything they do. These leaders speak from deep within to motivate others. People may doubt their conclusions, but nobody will ever question their conviction or passion.
   
   
3. As a coach
   - who wants everyone in the organization to succeed.
   These types of corporate leaders teach the fundamentals and do more training than anything else. They also attempt to provide a useable framework or formula for success.
   
   
4. As a transformer
   - with a mission to take the organization from where it is now to where it needs to be in the future. When these leaders communicate, they are attempting to sell others on the benefits of coming along with them.

Bearing in mind that leaders may choose to be the expert one day and a coach the next, a good leader always give some thought beforehand as to what they are trying to achieve with each communication:

• Am I attempting to provide enough information to explain something new?
• Am I trying to overcome the anticipated objections of my listeners?
• Am I trying to sell the people in the audience on my idea or a better way of doing things?
• Am I attempting to celebrate some notable milestone by what I say?
• Am I attempting to entertain in the spirit of having some lighthearted fun?

You probably know what you want and need in life: 

Being more organized, developing your career, becoming a better communicator, overcome bad habits, be happier, or be more self-confident.

However, getting there might be hard in the short and long term, as it requires effort, practice, and some guidance. It may seem very frustrating to approach this journey.
One powerful method to build a habit to grow and self-improve is journaling. 

Journal Every Day is a Keystone Habit to Help you Achieving your Goals

"Keeping a personal journal a daily in-depth analysis and evaluation of your experiences is a high-leverage activity that increases self-awareness and enhances all the endowments and the synergy among them." -- Stephen R.Covey

By building up your journal and investing daily 10 minutes you will be able to leverage on your goals and improve and here is why:

• Journaling Optimizes Your Creative Potential

Detach from consuming news or surfing through the internet and use the time to think, reflect, and articulate thoughts. Instead, a few minutes a day can help to structure your upcoming day and learn of what happened recently and how you can tackle this in the future.

• Journaling Helps to Recover Daily and to Clear Emotions

As a post-work reflection, it helps you to detach from the work, to understand what has been done well, to consider where to continue adding a focus. And at the same time, you can more fully experience and appreciate your emotions.

• Journaling Generates Clarity and Focus

By journaling in the morning and evening, you will detect what impacts you and understand what matters. By that, you will understand easier what needs to be removed and what should be included in your life. This self-discovery will improve your ability to make small and large decisions better.

• Journaling Fosters Learning

The act of writing allows your subconscious mind to discover and proceed through challenges to enhance your learning process. You'll be able to work out problems and get insights while you reflect and write about the things you're learning.

• Journaling Increases Your Gratitude

Many people go through challenges and have difficulties in their life. However, when reflecting on these challenges, you start a process that will make you better and stronger. You will understand what you are doing already well and in which areas you might further improve your potential.