Happy St. Valentine’s Day! Hopefully you’re able to celebrate the ones you love (including yourself) today.
As we head into the weekend, take some time to consider innovator Kelly McGonigal’s short talk in the video below.
Two key takeaways that relate to innovation:
1) Stay open to the possibility that you are wrong. Completely, profoundly wrong. One of the most important lessons we can learn from Kelly is that the biggest breakthrough in her practice came from accepting evidence showed she was on the wrong track. For years she had been convinced that stress was inherently bad and had negative impacts on her clients’ health, and she had convinced her clients of this as well. When faced with evidence to the contrary, though, she quickly shifted her assumptions and thus practices to align with new knowledge. This is not easy, but it’s key for innovation.
2) Embrace stress! We often avoid stress, assuming it kills creativity and leads to paralysis, rather than progress. But, as Kelly informs us, stress can actually be healthy and helpful if we think about it the right way. Next time you feel stress creeping in, remind yourself that this response can help you reach your goals. Push forward instead of pulling back. This isn’t to say that we should be stressed out and busy at all times – don’t get me wrong. But when we are working toward the ambitious goals we have for ourselves, we can use stress to propel us to success if we think about it the right way.
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