The Innovation Diaries

The freshness of innovation often depends on how well you can break existing habits.

Drilling into this topic you can hit a genuine well of innovation energy: igniting the idea engine, sustaining you through the challenging parts and fuelling the process of making things happen. But the art of “unlearning” might not be as elusive as you expect it to be. As a matter of fact, here are 9 things to avoid when trying to break out of habit and into freshness.

1. Don’t tackle two or more habits at once Fully commit yourself to changing one habit. When you find yourself on autopilot, move on.

2. Paperless commitment Writing down your habit changing commits you to it. Add a start and finish date and stick to it.

3. Half-heartedness Tell the world about it so there is no escape. Take that piece of paper you wrote your commitment on and publish it.

4. Going at it alone Easiest mistake to make: you are never your best teacher, others are. If you cannot think of whom to rely on when it gets difficult, rethink.

5. Not thinking through your motivation Discipline comes with the right motivation, not just any motivation. Make sure the commitment you make to yourself is as authentic as the one you make to others.

6. Not knowing your triggers Every habitual behaviour is triggered by something. Know what they are and make sure you replace them with fresh, positive and everyday triggers.

7. Not reading up Remember: you are not your own teacher, others are.

8. Changing focus too soon Our own idea of time is never consistent or even realistic - we casually bend the time-space continuum whenever it suits us, especially when we want to move on.

9. Not being consistent The rules you set when breaking a habit are not to be broken. A habit means doing the same things every single time. Not just sometimes.