Innovation emerges from the awareness that existing patterns of behavior are in some way inadequate to the social or cultural needs of a community. While the innovator must ultimately share his or her insights and ideas with others, the initial shaping of these new ideas or organizations remains an intensely personal experience that may be difficult to share with another person in a more intimate exchange.

So, take some time to consider the following questions:

• What is the history of the issues or concerns to be discussed in the proposed conversation?

Creative impulses develop over time, often intertwining with our personal lives. Deeply-rooted emotional needs shade and color our creativity. So, it is important for you to consider the history of your project. You need to consider how its core ideas have emerged and who has been involved with it in the past. Part of this consideration should also take into account the emotional difficulties (and rewards) you have already experienced with regard to this project. If a person has had a particular impact – either positive or negative – on your creative process, then this needs to be part of our preliminary conversation. In much the same way, you should discuss any aspects of the project that have provoked a particularly strong emotional response.

• How have your creative needs changed over time?

While the external aspects of a particular creative impulse or project may seem to remain the same since their inception, it is important to recognize that the motivation for it often changes over time. So, consider how your understanding of this creative need has evolved and developed. As part of this consideration, think about the ways in which this desire or project has fostered positive or negative feelings in you as well as how these emotions are shaping your present perceptions as you approach these conversations.

• Do you need to develop any new skills to move toward your goals?

If you are looking to develop a particular creative skill, you should consider why you feel this need to be important. This may involve trying to understand why you feel that you are lacking this particular skill or why you feel that it needs improvement. Again, do not be afraid to express vulnerability in your preliminary conversation since this will enable you to build a more positive future through these creative conversations.

• What other resources do you need to successfully realize your creative desire or project?

Take some time to honestly appraise what you need to fulfill your creative desire. This may involve other people (with their own particular skills and abilities) or access to particular resources. In particular, assess the realistic possibility of these things becoming available to you. Also, take some time to think about the resources you either have or will have to fulfill your desires. This should involve thinking about ideas and options that you have put aside prematurely as well as how particular resources have changed during the course of your life.

• How will you measure your success?

It is important that you understand how you will measure your success in fulfilling your desires for your project. This will help you appreciate the motivations shaping your creative work as well as help you know when your desires or project are completely fulfilled. Still, it is very important that you remember that creativity is an open process and you need to remain available to new possibilities that emerge during these conversations.

• Does any aspect of your project disturb or frighten you?

Approaching anything new always raises the possibility of anxiety. So, as you approach these conversations, you should make note of any issues that already frighten or disturb you. Be clear about these concerns and try to explain them in as much detail as possible in your preliminary conversation. Also, do not be nervous about being unable to express more than a vague anxiety. By their vary nature, new ideas and social patterns takes us into the unfamiliar but it is not a completely unknown future. It is shaped by our own experiences and desires, aspects of ourselves that have developed over the years and which have brought us to the present.

• Are you experiencing any particular emotions as you approach these conversations?

As has already been noted, the issues of these conversations have been shaped by your previous choices and desires. So, it is important that you express a clear understanding of any other emotions that may be emerging as you begin. If you have insights into how these issues already affect you, the conversations will become much easier since these feelings can be taken into consideration while you are speaking.

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