Does Mindfulness Enable Creativity and Innovation?

In today’s volatile and uncertain environment, organizations need innovative thinkers more than ever. They know that in these turbulent and competitive times, innovation is not just an option but a mandate.

So, is an innovative mindset something you can develop? What is it anyway? An innovative mindset sees disruptions, challenges, and change as opportunities instead of threats. And leading experts in organizational innovation and design thinking believe a human-centered approach is the key to developing it. This is where mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness practice is a critical tool that develops the skills to support and enable widespread change and boost creativity.

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But how? Great question. Mindfulness enables innovation through many different facets. These include decreasing automaticity, reducing bias and filters, and helping individuals reframe problems and solutions in multiple ways. It also prevents locking on one solution too early in the process. Plus, mindfulness improves your quality of attention. And this is helpful since opportunities for innovative solutions begin in the “now”. If we’re locked inside our heads, preoccupied with the past, or too focused on the future, we miss emerging opportunities happening today.

By building this skill now, you’re setting yourself apart from others. Mindfulness practice can help you become an innovative thinker and uncover creative opportunities – you're just not seeing them yet.