Innovation Perspective on Personal Development

One of the techniques of innovation is to establish new relationships and articulations between seemingly unrelated vital areas and subjects. By combining (kneading) two different elements together, solutions and approaches that provide different and multiple satisfactions can be produced. Let me give an example from daily life for easy understanding. For example, you heat water to drink tea or coffee for breakfast with a teapot. On the other hand, you also generate heat for the toaster. By combining the features of these two devices, you can develop a new toaster teapot that will save heat (therefore electrical energy and space of use). Thus, by articulating two different uses, you create (innovate) innovation. We have started to see similar innovation examples frequently in our daily lives.

Personal development has been a topic that has received more and more attention since the last half of the 20th century. This area shows a very rich variety, from physical development to activities that will make people feel better mentally and emotionally. Experiences and rituals of almost every culture are served as personal development together with the knowledge of the new age. Some of them try to repeat the rituals of the past, while others try more scientific-looking approaches based on medicine.

The concept of innovation, which we translate into Turkish as innovation, innovation or innovation, is simply interpreted as "winning innovation". We evaluate innovation in terms of profit and profit in an economic enterprise. In the field of civil society, we can look at the living environment as the improvement of providing better quality and widespread service. What does innovation mean in terms of personal development that directly targets the individual? How can we evaluate the phenomenon of personal development from the perspective of innovation?

Innovation Factors

For you to move an object, you must exert an indirect or direct force on it (or keep it under the influence of a force). One of these strength options for innovation is passion. If a person feels passionate about individual change and development (in any of the vital areas), it means that he has created the effect of a force in order to become more developed. The area of ​​personal development can be learning a language to work abroad or traveling around the world, improving yourself in a sport or having a physically healthy body. But the existence of a passion that will make the pursuit of the work permanent seems necessary.

There is a phrase that we use to describe the last moment of the difficult situation, when the egg is at the door. This idiom represents a situation that can no longer be avoided. Many people claim that they can produce very creative, innovative and fast solutions in such situations. Putting aside the laziness (or bad habit) of leaving work to the last minute; The situation that we can express as inevitability is one of the important innovation factors like passion. We can exemplify that innovation comes to the fore when the current situation can no longer continue and it inevitably needs to come up with something new. Probably one of the main factors that motivates personal development and sustains it towards success may be inevitability. When change is not inevitable, it is often viewed as a pastime and not sustainable. For this reason, the person needs to be able to observe correctly the situations in which the egg hits the door in his own development. Also; It is indispensable for experts who provide personal development services (such as consultants, mentors, coaches) to observe and correctly interpret the conditions of passion and inevitability of the person who will receive the service.

Winning Innovation

No one expresses an opinion that does not accept that the individual lives in an ecosystem that constitutes his immediate and distant environment. We know that; The ecosystem surrounding the individual creates some effects that can shape it. In addition to the fact that different living environments affect people differently, there is a personal interiority that everyone develops from the very beginning.

We are each different; We create ourselves in different environments—resources, constraints, and boundaries. Since difference is one of the basic features of being an individual, expectations, plans and programs that we call personal development should also take this fact into account. In addition to being a “win-win innovation”, innovation – as Gijs Van Wulfen puts it – is “either doing things differently or doing things differently”. Indeed, one of the main drivers of innovation is differentiation. Thus, the common difference-differentiation phenomenon of personal development and innovation appears once again.

Personal Development as a Mission

Although there are people and communities in the world who prefer to continue living in ancient times, there is a reality of change that forces us to run. We have to compete with the spirit of the time as well as the speed and diversity of change. The increase in the number of competitors we compete for the same economic and social position also pushes us to act focused on innovation and development. Conditions of change that do not allow for rest, define personal development as a task to be accomplished, just like innovation. When we do not perform well in development as individuals, the risk of being crushed and destroyed among the wheels of the ecosystem increases. We understand that; Today, personal development is not just an individual choice, it is one of the requirements of continuing to exist in the system with a sense of duty.

As the world gets faster and more complex, the odds of tackling a problem or issue on our own become less and less. We need more relationships, cooperation and collaboration. In order to innovate in any subject, it is not possible for us to do the work at a desk or alone in the laboratory of life, like the smart individuals of the past who were both scientists and philosophers. The age we live in requires teamwork, including personal development. This challenge of teamwork underlies the rapid increase in the number of consulting, coaching or mentoring organizations that provide services for personal development – ​​alongside skill development centers.

Team Planning and Preparation

Another dimension of the subject that we can frame as teamwork consists of the learning style of people by comparing. As the number of options in living spaces increases, the individual's ability to make comparisons and make decisions alone begins to be insufficient. The person who receives help through work with other people or organizations is trying to determine a path of advancement for himself. In today's hectic life, we need support teams whose numbers and types can vary in order to access more data in shorter time periods and make comparisons between them.

The world really looks more and more like the endless need, limited resource model described by classical economics. If you live in a difficult world with limited resources, then you need a solid plan and the right preparation to be able to innovate (just as with innovation). Planning and preparation can be interpreted as the development of the individual's own leadership in personal development. The chance that will lead to permanent and sustainable success will be placed on the head of those who have made the necessary plan and preparation. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), who made important studies in the exploration of the polar regions and made the first access to the South Pole, defines success in difficult life conditions as follows: “Victory awaits the one who does everything in order.”

Focusing

One of the most serious obstacles to personal development is that this process is not taken seriously enough. It is one of the common situations to give up or give up halfway when the path of personal development is taken without giving the necessary importance and weight. If the inevitability, passion and morality of duty required for innovation are not included in the personal development process, success will probably not come.

Focus is another factor that will lead to achievement and success in personal development (as in innovation). Let me give an example. When you push a car forward (with the gear and brake in neutral) with the participation of a few friends, the car that moves for a short time will then stop. The friction of the tires with the ground, which responds to your forward force, causes the car to stop moving. It is the same in the process of personal life. While you strive for your individual development, you will encounter obstacles from your environment that negatively affect it. Some of these may be your relatives and friends who do not take your effort seriously, work, daily life or climate-based difficulties in the environment, and your physical or mental health conditions.

The important factor that enables us to overcome these negative conditions and progress in the personal development process is the focus. Thanks to focus, you maintain your development speed and shorten your time to reach the goal. Parkinson's Law, which contains important clues about human behavior patterns, states: “If you give three hours for an hour's work, it will be done in three hours.” The prolongation of the personal development period has a similar result. The longer the time, the lower the performance and the blurrier the target. Focus helps with speed while keeping the target clear.

Perseverance

If you are not determined, it is highly likely that you will not be able to successfully complete the innovation process. There are some – some of which I have mentioned above – in order not to successfully overcome the personal development process. If you want to complain, “the orchestra is tinny for not dancing, the piece is bad, the track is narrow”. When you examine the fields of science, art, social disciplines or individual achievements, you will find that almost all of those involved in these processes experience deficiencies, weaknesses and obstacles as resources. The most important factor in overcoming them is their determination to achieve the goal. The personal development process also requires perseverance—though not blindly.

If you consider self-development a game, you can probably find much better pursuits to keep you entertained. Personal development work involves similar weights of inevitability and voluntarism. But when you enter this process, you also assume the necessary responsibility towards yourself as a human being. When this spirit of responsibility is combined with perseverance, it can lead you to success far beyond your expectations.

Versatility

In a workplace, a coffee machine or water dispenser creates a space designed to satisfy the need for drinks. Beverage supply is the first rationale for setting up this environment. But this space can also be used for a short standing morning meeting on business, such as 10-15 minutes. Thus, we make a single resource multi-use.

We consider versatility a positive advantage when evaluating innovation projects. It would be appropriate to show a similar approach in the personal development business. For example, the personal development process can be an occasion to learn new technologies and gain new knowledge. Also; this process can also create a suitable opportunity to establish new relationships. Although the essence of personal development targets the individual, the fact that the individual takes part in a social life will also add the social dimension to this process. In summary; When we envision personal development, we also need to keep in mind the possibility that it can be multifaceted. Because life itself is multifaceted, multidimensional and multi-actor.