Today I Choose to be Innovative – How to be Innovative

Innovation Born from Frustration: When “Good Enough” Isn’t

Innovation doesn’t always happen in shiny labs or Silicon Valley boardrooms. Sometimes, it happens at your desk with a stack of spreadsheets, a deadline breathing down your neck, and the sinking realization that “the way we’ve always done it” simply isn’t working anymore.

That was me, managing the finances for eighteen companies at once. The system was clunky—manual reconciliations, endless spreadsheets, double entries that left room for error. It was draining time, energy, and sanity. I could have accepted it. I could have kept repeating the same process, the same way, just because it was familiar. But instead, I started experimenting. I dug into dashboards, tested integrations, tinkered with Fathom and Power BI until the chaos started turning into clarity.

It wasn’t easy. Not everyone loves change, and there were moments I felt like the lone voice pushing against “we’ve always done it this way.” My shoulders knotted after long meetings, my stomach churned with frustration when new systems glitched. But slowly, something shifted. The first time I pulled up a consolidated dashboard and trusted what I saw—it felt like a breakthrough.

What Innovation Really Means After 50

Innovation isn’t just about creating entirely new products or services. Often, it’s about recognizing when existing systems aren’t serving their purpose and having the courage to experiment with better approaches. For women over 50, innovation often builds on decades of experience that helps us recognize inefficiency and envision solutions.

Research from MIT shows that successful innovators typically have deep domain expertise combined with willingness to challenge assumptions. This perfectly describes the advantage women our age have: we know how things work, we’ve seen multiple approaches over time, and we’re often frustrated enough with inefficiency to push for better solutions.

Innovation at this stage isn’t about disrupting for disruption’s sake—it’s about applying wisdom to create meaningful improvements.

Five Principles of Practical Innovation

1. Start with Frustration, Not Fantasy

The best innovations often come from genuine frustration with current solutions. Those endless spreadsheets and manual reconciliations weren’t just annoying—they were actively preventing good work from getting done. Innovation begins when you stop accepting frustration as inevitable.

Harness frustration for innovation by:

• Identifying recurring problems that drain energy or create inefficiency
• Asking “Why does it have to be this way?” instead of accepting status quo
• Documenting specific pain points to understand what needs to change
• Looking for patterns in what consistently bothers you or others

2. Combine Existing Solutions in New Ways

My dashboard innovation wasn’t about inventing new software—it was about connecting existing tools (Fathom, Power BI, various financial systems) in ways that created new capabilities. Most innovation happens through creative combination rather than ground-up invention.

Practice combinational innovation through:

• Exploring how tools or methods from one area might solve problems in another
• Testing integration between systems that weren’t designed to work together
• Borrowing successful approaches from different industries or contexts
• Experimenting with hybrid solutions that blend multiple existing approaches

3. Embrace Strategic Tinkering

Innovation requires willingness to experiment without knowing exactly what will work. My process involved lots of testing, adjusting, and trying again. Strategic tinkering means purposeful experimentation rather than random changes.

Develop tinkering skills by:

• Setting aside time specifically for experimentation without immediate pressure for results
• Testing changes in small, contained ways before rolling out broadly
• Learning from failures and adjustments rather than viewing them as setbacks
• Documenting what you try so you can build on both successes and failures

4. Persist Through Resistance

Innovation almost always faces resistance from people comfortable with current methods. Those moments when I felt like the lone voice pushing for change were part of the innovation process, not obstacles to it. Persistence doesn’t mean bulldozing—it means consistent, patient advocacy for better solutions.

Navigate resistance effectively by:

• Focusing on problems everyone can recognize rather than just promoting your solution
• Demonstrating benefits through small pilots before asking for large changes
• Involving resistant people in testing rather than imposing changes on them
• Celebrating incremental improvements to build momentum for larger changes

5. Measure Impact, Not Just Implementation

The real test of innovation isn’t whether you successfully implement something new—it’s whether the new approach actually creates better outcomes. That moment when I trusted the consolidated dashboard was about verifying that the innovation served its purpose.

Focus on meaningful impact through:

• Defining success in terms of improved outcomes, not just successful changes
• Tracking both quantitative metrics and qualitative improvements
• Getting feedback from people affected by innovations, not just those who implemented them
• Being willing to adjust or abandon innovations that don’t deliver real value

When Innovation Feels Risky

There were definitely moments when pushing for change felt risky—when systems glitched, when people pushed back, when I wondered if the old way might actually be better. Innovation requires tolerance for temporary discomfort and uncertainty.

But here’s what I learned: the biggest risk isn’t trying something new and having it not work perfectly. The biggest risk is accepting inefficiency and frustration as permanent fixtures of your work or life.

The Compound Benefits of Innovation

That’s when I realized: innovation isn’t about flashy ideas. It’s about courage. The courage to ask what if, to tinker, to fail, to push past resistance, and to keep moving forward until a better way emerges.

The dashboard innovation didn’t just improve my work—it improved outcomes for all eighteen companies, created more reliable financial reporting, and freed up time for more strategic thinking. Innovation often creates benefits that extend far beyond the original problem.

For women over 50, innovation becomes especially powerful because we often have the authority and confidence to implement meaningful changes. We’re not just generating ideas—we’re in positions to make things happen.

Innovation as Leadership

When you innovate solutions to problems others accept as permanent, you demonstrate a form of leadership that goes beyond formal titles. You show that improvement is possible, that frustration can be productive, and that “we’ve always done it this way” isn’t a sufficient reason to continue suboptimal practices.

Your willingness to experiment, tinker, and push for better solutions gives others permission to question assumptions and seek improvements in their own areas.

Your Innovation Practice Today

Look at the systems, processes, or routines in your life that create regular frustration. Instead of accepting them as unchangeable, ask: “What if there’s a better way to do this?”

Start small. Choose one recurring problem and brainstorm three different approaches to solving it. You don’t have to implement a complete solution immediately—just begin experimenting with possibilities.

Remember: innovation doesn’t require genius or advanced technical skills. It requires curiosity, persistence, and willingness to try something different when the current approach isn’t serving you well.

Your innovative thinking matters not just for your own efficiency and satisfaction, but for everyone who benefits when problems get solved rather than just endured. And sometimes, the most valuable innovation is the one that turns daily frustration into daily flow.