How can you stay motivated when pursuing innovation?

Staying motivated in innovation is deeply personal and often rooted in a strong 'why'. For me, it's about envisioning the impact of my work. When developing new solutions, I constantly remind myself of the problem I'm addressing and the people I'm helping. This vision of creating meaningful change is what keeps me driven, even through setbacks and challenges. It's not just about the end product, but the journey of creating something that can genuinely make a difference. Aligning my personal values with my professional goals adds a layer of fulfillment that goes beyond conventional success metrics. In essence, it's the belief in the value of my innovation and its potential impact that fuels my journey.

Staying motivated in innovation is crucial, and it starts with discovering your purpose or "WHY." For instance, if you're a data analyst in an IT company, your WHY could be improving decision-making through insightful analytics. Imagine you're tasked with analyzing a dataset, and you find patterns that lead to a 20% increase in efficiency. Your WHY, improving decision-making, is fulfilled, reinforcing your motivation. ??

Many simply don’t have a choice - it’s how they’re built. There they are, going about their life, and then one day *BAM* - they see ‘it.’ They see the need for something new. Or think of a non-obvious solution to an obvious problem. There’s no need for external motivation; they believe, deep down to their core, in the mission. And they invest every waking moment and ounce of their energy in solving it. For others, their ‘why’ may be less about the mission and more about proving themself, or about loving the nature of the work, or the company culture, or the opportunity to progress in their career on the way to their dream job. All are ok answers. It’s all about what, authentically, gives you energy. Let it be your guide.

Continuously innovating and staying original in a world with constant influences and trends is difficult. However basics comes to rescue you all the time. 1) Push your boundaries by looking for challenging project time to time to make process interesting. 2) Define specific, achievable objectives to give your creativity direction. 3) Set deadlines. Maintaining motivation is an ongoing process. Finding what specifically motivates you and practices into routine can enhance creative drive.

Yes, find your WHY. I create what I call my Painted picture.… It's an envisioned picture, full of detail, that creates the picture in my mind as the entrepreneur and then I share it with everyone around me. Our people even hold us accountable to the vision we set because they want to be a part of getting there.

Seeking feedback has been a crucial motivator in my innovation journey. It's like having a compass that guides and refines my path. Interacting with a diverse range of people - from customers to mentors - provides a wealth of perspectives that can ignite new ideas or reshape existing ones. I approach feedback with an open mind, sifting through to find actionable insights. Constructive criticism, in particular, can be a powerful catalyst for growth. It's about striking a balance between being receptive to feedback and staying true to your vision. This feedback loop not only propels the innovation forward but also keeps the spirit of exploration alive.

I wrote a book about failure :-) but these moments of failure were all gifts. Gifts that led me to learning from every mistake so that our businesses could become what they are today. You have to adopbt a WTF attitude... be WILLING TO FAIL. :)

You learn some from success. By becoming a student of failure, however, you gain life’s most valuable learnings. No one likes to lose - it’s frustrating and feels bad. The last thing you want to do right after? For me, it’s combing through the play-by-play to mine insights. Here is how I look at it — if you’re able to step outside of yourself and think objectively about what you or others could have done better, you’ll take more with you than you lost in the attempt. And so much more than letting fear prevent you from trying.

I've learned to view failures not as setbacks, but as stepping stones to success. Each failure brings invaluable lessons, revealing what needs improvement or change. It's a process of trial and error that sharpens skills and deepens understanding. Rather than a sign of weakness, I see failure as a testament to my commitment to push boundaries. Celebrating effort over outcomes fosters a growth mindset, crucial for long-term innovation. This attitude towards failure keeps the flame of motivation burning, as it shifts focus from fear of failing to excitement in learning and evolving.

Embracing failure is something few often focus on. Everyone loves when you're winning, but the gold is found when you lose. There are lessons in each failure that change the trajectory of your innovation and offering. It's what ultimately makes you win. Digging deep and finding the root causes, the real reasons (behind the obvious ones) is where innovation can get its spark. We either win or learn. It's never really a loss. It's an infinite game if done the right way and this (initial failure) is merely an initial iteration of the final success win.

You will NEVER get something right the first time. Even if you find success, there are always ways to improve. Failure is never fun to accept. But trying and failing is the only way to learn, because the alternative is to not try at all and remain stagnant. When innovating, things will be consistently changing. Embrace the change and remember that a failure is a new learning as you chip away to your end goal. If you feel failure is weighing on you, connect with your support system and/or other entrepreneurs who can help you continue innovating and pushing forward!

Maybe co-creation is the better word here. Innovation gets accelerated by facilitation of co-creation between different disciplines, professionals, teams and industries.

Nobody wins alone. Even the biggest mavericks have a team they collaborate with. We are all smarter as a group than any one of us individually, and collaboration is the fundamental process leading to that greater awareness bubbling to the top. Whenever I have ideas I say them aloud, then you can usually tell where the flawed logic may sit and where tweaks and nuances need hammered out. It's the same in collaborating. Sharing of ideas and resources always, in my experience, leads to a result much greater than the sum of the parts.

Collaboration is often looked like a skill that you already possess and cannot be changed much - like your personality. That's not true. Learning how to collaborate with different stakeholders is a skill set important to climb any ladder - be it corporate or personal life. Start by reading books such as How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This is an instrumental book in understanding the human psychology of conversations and how to excel in them by developing your charisma. When you have this, people will want to collaborate with you - given that you possess the necessary domain knowledge.

As soon as you start your journey, you realise entrepreneurship is nothing like its on the Silicon Valley show. It is tumultuous. I recommend setting up routines and habits that keep you in your seat when you are on this rollercoaster journey is important and most realise this soon. Nitin Kamath, Founder, Zerodha for example, sleeps by 9 pm, practices yoga nidra (conscious sleeping) or meditates 10 minutes before going to bed and gets a workout at 5 am. I highly recommend reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Atomic Habits to form good habits that keep you moving towards your goals.

I always keep my stats somewhere to see every week or so. It's an acknowledgment that I've done a lot and will keep on achieving.

From one founder to another - take care of yourself. The startup journey is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t get stressed by all that popular media has to say. build for your happiness in a way that enables the lifestyle you want :)

Here are some real life stories I personally find motivating: Elon Musk - Despite facing numerous challenges, he remained driven by his vision of a sustainable future, leading to the success of Tesla, SpaceX, and others. Malala Yousafzai -Her unwavering belief in education has fueled her advocacy efforts, inspiring millions of girls around the world to pursue their dreams. Stephen Hawking- His determination to understand the cosmos and his refusal to let his physical limitations define him exemplify perseverance and resilience. These individuals demonstrate that staying motivated when pursuing innovation requires a combination of passion, perseverance, and a strong sense of purpose.

Remember that leadership, and the mindset and execution of entrepreneurship, is not solely for the start-up. There are sos many opportunities to drive change, leverage risk and create anew from within an organization. Expanding offerings and creating new never-before-seen strategies, products and services has a place everywhere and should be fostered by innovative leaders. Creating offerings that help and provide value up front have their place at every level and the organization and customers alike benefit.