INNOVATION

So many people have asked me why this is lnnovation and not Inspiration? I didn’t have a good answer for a while.

Articulating the reason has taken years of real self reflection. Turns out it’s kind of multi-faceted. Inspiration is a feeling that is driven by outside forces. Most commonly, someone or some thing inspires one to do something. If you achieve or surpass what that person did, you need a new inspiration.

The “I” in MAHI is not inspiration because I want you to see the power inside you. The value of you. Inspiration is something you will feel along the way for sure. But I want you to emphasize the value and the importance of you. How unique you are. How there are things that only you can do. And when you do something new that you feel great about, no matter what it is, you will know innovation.

The secondary reason it is Innovation, is because your inspirations can fail you. How many role models do we know that fell from grace. How many leaders have disappointed through a lapse in judgment or a mistake that created the opposite of what you saw in them.

What I want you to do is draw values that are important to you. Whatever they are doesn’t matter. If you love fishing, find a fisherman and read about him or her. Find out their values. Athletes and educators and artists. Writers, actors.

There is a difference between innovation and inspiration. Inspiration; it is impossible to live exactly like someone else and expect the same outcome, the same results. Work on being a better version of you. But don’t expect anything to change overnight. Ask for help too. Think of ways you like to achieve a similar result.

Believe it or not, the best way to achieve your goals is by helping someone achieve similar ones. In that process you will learn to apply methods learned there, to what you want to achieve for yourself. There is plenty of good to go around.

For example…rowing on a machine at a gym. Good workout. But rowing in a crew on a 4 man boat? You learn teamwork, communication, using all of your senses.

What can you apply to business that you learn from swimming, or skiing, or even downhill mountain biking?

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Beyond personal though is the technical, the mechanical or other “sciencey” innovations.

In these realms, I recommend focusing on foundational principles.

For example, learning aerodynamics applies very closely with hydrodynamics. The principle of water displacement applies to the relationship of differences between any solid and any liquid. Hydraulic pressure principles and electricity. Evaporative cooling principles.

I had to slide a trailer withh a boat sideways one day. I know that large surfaces disperse force. So I jacked up one wheel at a time. Under each wheel I placed 2 pieces of plywood like a sandwich. Between the plywood I put just enough sand to create friction. It only took 200lbs of pressure to move a 2600# boat sideways. I know.. there’s easier ways. Much easier. But I wanted to use science….and I was out of money.

Density affects hydro dynamics similar to aero dynamics. Slow speed and large flat plate area causes flow disturbances.

So when you innovate, don’t feel like it has to follow the traditional sense of innovation. As a matter of fact don’t feel like any boundaries of process or science have to exist. That’s actually the opposite of innovation.

Innovation is simply this. To create something that no one ever has, you need to do things that no one has ever done. To have something that you have never had, you must do something that you have never done. You’ll find it. But you have to look. This means you will go through a process of multiple attempts and failures. This is “The Never Process.” It applies to every letter in the word MAHI.