Process Jolt #18 - Let love drive progress, not stress

Welcome to our Conscious Innovator® process!

Are you ready for a new, insight-provoking “Jolt” … something that challenges conventional thinking about the "right" mindset for being innovative? It's not that the conventional understanding is wrong - just limited.

Jolts wake us up. They emphasize a shift of focus that taps into a deeper, more expansive consciousness. The result can be profound insights into yourself and others that bring out your full, innovative potential, whether in small, daily tasks or major projects. 

Jolt #18: Let love drive progress, not stress

Implementation. This may be your most stressful time in the entire innovation process – when you need to make your innovative solution happen.

The voice of stress is likely to nag you: “Will this really work? Will we get the resources we need? Can we stay on schedule? Will our end-users like it?  What if we fail? How will this impact our careers?”

The tap-root of these stressful thoughts is often an unconscious, limiting belief that “I’m not enough” – not good enough, smart enough, worthy enough, lucky enough. Our self-esteem is at risk, and we feel we need to prove our worth to others and ourselves.

But as every athlete and coach knows, stress inhibits top performance. Athletes get tight. They lose concentration. They make hasty, poor decisions. They lose perspective on what they’re doing and why.

Joe Ehrmann, a former All-American and All-Pro professional football player, has a game plan to alleviate this kind of stress. He’s currently a football coach at a small high school whose teams are rated among the top 10 in his state over the last decade. Parade Magazine once named him, “The Most Important Coach in America.”

Joe has a specific approach to sports, and life, that’s summed up by a routine he leads at the beginning of every football practice:

“What is our job as coaches?” he asks. “To love us!” the boys shout.
“What is your job?” “To love each other!”

Love? Love is the key to turning a game plan into top performance?

Stress unleashes cortisol in the brain and shuts down higher thinking capabilities, sub-optimizing performance. Love releases the endorphins and dopamine for opening up the brain’s neocortex to higher intelligence and creativity, optimizing commitment as well as performance.

Love is more than an emotion. It’s a state of being that is unconditional in its positive regard for oneself and others, selfless in its motivation, and fearless in its presence. Love is empathy, caring, gratitude, authenticity, and trust – core essentials for innovative teamwork.

Joann Zimmerman, former Sr VP of Operations at Kaiser Permanente South Bay, is not shy when it comes to expressing love at work:

“I truly love my work and the people I work with; I treat them first and foremost with love, then comes respect and expectations. I openly express, ‘I love you, I love working with you.’ I tell people, ‘I love you means I trust you, I want to partner with you, I care about you.’ One person said to me recently, ‘When you speak to me I know I can do more, I know I matter.’”

-=-=-=- Now it's your turn -=-=-=-

Being a Conscious Innovator® has a 3 phase cyclical process: become aware, capable, and versatile. Try on this Jolt in your life and work, then take self-reflective time to engage in the process:

-=-=-=- An invitation to join our process and share your insights -=-=-=-

If you haven’t already, we’d love for you to join our process and share your own experiences, while learning from the experiences of others! We appreciate what one person said about the Jolt process itself:

Innovation is a world by itself. It can change lives and help people become more positive. Doing a Jolt is already something! A new habit that promotes innovation and reflection.

It’s totally FREE to participate. To sign up and join us, go to this link and follow the easy directions: https://innovate.vci.global/p/the-conscious-innovator. 

Even if you haven’t participated up to this point, it’s never too late to start the process! It’s like a concise gym workout that provides an insightful “pause that refreshes” and evokes your unique, innovative potential in life and work.