How Introverts Can Become Transformational Leaders

Transformational leaders have a preternatural way of creating great ideas, structures, and organizations from pure imagination, and that’s within the bailiwick of strategic introverts.

Alexander the Great is said to have begun crafting his epic life after reading Homer’s “Iliad.” Innovation merely means exploring the possibilities of a fantasy which you bring to reality.  It’s a talent that everyone has, yet they think they don’t.

If you’ve ever marveled at somebody’s creative prowess, guess what? You can create and innovate too. It just takes time. Everyone is born creative. The box of crayons in kindergarten was not limited to those who possessed potential; because the truth is, everybody has potential.

Do you know how long it took to learn to ride a bike or drive a car? It’s the same with innovation. It takes a bit of practice and a lot of time before this skill set becomes easy.

This article will teach you a few tips on how to bring innovation into your life.

Don’t listen to what other people say. Follow the beat of your drum. Allowing other people’s input will only bring cacophony to the music you are trying to make. If you have an original idea, don’t waste your time and effort trying to make people understand.

They won’t.  And the help you will probably get comes from negative feedback. If all those geniuses had listened to their peers, we would probably still be living in the middle ages.

Spend time on it. I cannot stress that enough, although please do not mistake this tip to tell you to quit your day job entirely. Do not. This involves some tricky time management, but with a bit of discipline you’ll be able to squeeze both in.

Exercise. Take a walk. Run a mile or two. Send all those endorphins coursing through your veins. Exercising clears and relaxes your mind and allows anything to pop up.

Record your dreams.  Aren’t some of your dreams just the craziest things your conscious mind would never have thought of? If you’ve had these dreams before, and I’m sure you have, this only shows you the untapped innovative power you lie within.

So jot down those notes. Those dreams may create an innovative spark in you.

-Find your style. You can always tell a Van Gogh from a Matisse. You’ll know Hemingway wrote something by choice of words on the paper. So, it is the same with you.

People will appreciate your innovation more because it is uniquely yours and no one else would have thought of what you were thinking. That will let people see how valuable an asset you are.

-Don’t hide behind pretty gadgets or tools. You don’t need some expensive fountain pens and smooth paper for a bestseller. You don’t need the most expensive set of paints to produce a masterpiece—the same way with writing.

J.K. Rowling wrote the first book of the Harry Potter Series on bits of tissue. So, what if you’ve got an expensive SLR camera if you’re a crappy photographer? Who cares if you’ve got a beautiful laptop if you can’t write?

The artist reduces the number of tools he has as he gets better at his craft; he knows what works and doesn’t.

-Nothing will work without passion. What keeps the flame burning? What wakes you up in the mornings? What is the one thing you’ll die if you don’t do?

Ellen DeGeneres once said that if you’re not doing something you want to do, you don’t want to do it. Sometimes people with talent are overtaken by the people who want it more. Think the hare and the tortoise.

And that’s true. Sometimes you want something so bad you become virtually unstoppable. And that is passion. Passion will keep you going.

-Don’t worry about inspiration. You can’t force it; inspiration hits when you least expect it to. For those unpredictable yet inevitable moments, you should prepare.

An idea could strike you on the subway, yet alas, you poor unfortunate soul; you have no sheet of paper to scribble down a thought that could change the world. Avoid these disasters. Have a pen and paper within your arm’s reach at all times.

Transformational leaders inspire innovation, but you can duplicate the same process.  Remember that you’re doing these things for your satisfaction and not anyone else’s.

But soon enough, they will notice, and everything should snowball from there.

Shakespeare once noted, “The fault of man lies not in our stars… but in ourselves.”

—Joseph Carlson

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