Think As Inc

YOUR PERSONAL R&D

October 10, 2009 on 9:04 pm | In life coaching | No Comments

You need to take care of your product line.  Companies invest money and time into research, development, and innovation.  So too should you invest in your personal R&D.  Check out your company or local college for training.  There might be classes on general business skills (e.g., time management, presentation skills) or job -specific skills (e.g., accounting topics, effective selling).  In addition, everyone needs to develop the following:

FLEXIBILITY is your ability to stretch in new ways from your comfort zone.  Practice this skill by: taking a controversial topic and defending it on both sides; lunching with unfamiliar colleagues; sampling different cuisines; taking up a sport (if you’re artistic) or an art (if you’re athletic); reading a new genre. 

CREATIVITY is your ability to see possibilities outside of your comfort zone.  Practice this skill by: taking a simple everyday object and thinking of new uses for it (e.g., how many ways can you use a paper clip?); taking a creative class (e.g., art, cooking, writing); reading biographies of inventors, artists and other creative people.

RISK APPETITE is your willingness to do things outside of your comfort zone.  Practice this skill by: doing one thing off of your “I also wanted to” list (go to Paris, scuba dive in Hawaii); learning a new skill; reading stories of people who have beat the odds or made major life transformations.

Everyone can benefit from being able and willing to move outside of their comfort zone.  Change is inevitable, and the quickening pace of change today means that we will frequently be out of our comfort zone.  Preserving your product line also means knowing how to innovate.  Flexibility, creativity and a healthy risk appetite allow for personal innovation.