I keep telling you—innovation is not that hard!

Here’s the misconception: People think that to be an innovator, you have to be wildly creative. You have to think completely differently than anyone else. When they zig, you have to zag. Your perspective has to be 180 degrees from everyone else’s.

Here’s the truth.

To think like an innovator, sometimes you only have to change your perspective by one degree.

Sometimes, you only have to think a LITTLE differently than other people. (Or, perhaps more accurately, you only have to think a LITTLE differently than you normally would.)

Here’s something you can try today to prove what thinking a LITTLE differently can do.

Think of a problem you have, a challenge you’re facing, a question you’re wrestling with. Personal, professional, cosmic—doesn’t matter.

Now, who is somebody in your circle you could call who could provide some insight?

Whomever you just thought of, DON’T CALL THEM!

Instead, think of someone different. Someone you wouldn’t have thought of for this situation. Possibly someone from your very extended circle—an old high school friend, the shift supervisor from a job you had in college, a third cousin twice removed.

Now, CALL THAT PERSON.

Here’s why. The person you originally thought of is the logical choice, the obvious choice. Which means they’ll probably give you the logical insights, the obvious insights.

But by thinking just a LITTLE differently and calling a NON-obvious person, you’ll get an entirely different perspective.

Maybe it’ll lead nowhere.

But maybe it’ll be the missing piece of the puzzle.

That’s what thinking like an innovator feels like.

And it’s just not that hard.