When you are overworked and stressed out it’s very difficult to focus effectively on innovation. How can you successfully manage a massive workload, like Edison did, without succumbing to exhaustion and burnout?
Time management isn’t the answer.
Edison understood that although time on the clock was limited, the wellspring of creative inspiration was boundless. He drew on a seemingly endless source of energy and he had a remarkable range of expression.
No matter what he was doing, he was fully engaged, living life in the present. His ability to move freely, efficiently, passionately, and creatively through a day’s many activities and roles was a critical aspect of his success method. Edison discovered an optimal rhythm to facilitate amazing stamina and high performance.
Authors Michael Gelb and Sara Miller Caldicott, writing in Innovate Like Edison, call Edison’s approach full-spectrum engagement. It is a competency that you can cultivate to access the same boundless energy that fueled Edison. His approach balanced work and play, solitude and collaboration, concentration and relaxation.
Edison knew the value of how to discover simplicity and clarity in the midst of ambiguity and complexity.
Next: Master-Mind Collaboration
Read an overview of Edison’s Five Competencies for Innovation here.
This material adapted from Innovate Like Edison, by Michael J. Gelb and Sarah Miller Caldicott
A multi-part series being reposted in honor of Thomas Edison’s 166th birthday February 11, 2013
