To innovate – you must absorb many different sources of information – especially in the areas not in the area you are trying to innovate in, let those percolate in your brain, then apply them to your current challenges.  If you don’t fill up your funnel with new materials, (as in new experiences, new learning, new people, new places), then it becomes challenging to solve problems with new solutions.  You need to be a funnel – to capture many different and disparate sources into your head – capture new material so to speak and then allow your brain to use that new material to build new neural connections, which will trigger new ideas and fresh thinking.