"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea."
-Buddha-
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Don’t Let Good Ideas Go To Waste
Posted on January 28th, 2010 No commentsI like ideas. But when I don’t keep track of them, they tend to wander off, oftentimes never being heard of again. I’ve found plenty of ways to do this, including mind-mapping software and good ‘ol spreadsheets. Getting your ideas down on paper (or digital paper) is the first step to preserving them long enough to be of any use to you. It lets you work out details in your mind and get an idea of feasibility, effort required, etc. But this is only the first step.
Make Goals
If you just write your ideas down without ever attaching action to them, they will very likely end up getting lost to time. I know I have notebooks full of ideas from my lifetime, but how many of them ever saw the light of day? Not a whole lot. Setting goals for action is the critical step in getting you idea from the dream-world to the real one. Create small steps you can take to bring the idea to life, set time lines for doing these steps, and then hold yourself accountable to it!
Tell others
When you have a good feeling about an idea – you’ve set goals for it and the preliminary outlook looks good – tell a trusted friend about it. Tell a family member. As it comes closer to fruition, start to tell more people. Like-minded people will encourage and support you. They will motivate you and give you a greater feeling of accountability – you will want to deliver on what you’ve told them you will do. And when you’re putting in regular work on your idea, add to that the amount of people you have told about it, and sooner or later you will reach a ‘tipping point’, to use Gladwell’s phrase, and your idea will have so much momentum that it will start taking you along for the ride.
Disclaimer
Sure, some ideas just don’t work. You will need to be the judge of when to give up. Also keep this in mind: the more fantastic the idea, the fewer the people who will support you in it. That is why I recommend choosing your sounding boards wisely. But hey, if you happen to have an out-of-this-world idea that you’re absolutely convinced will work, do it! I try to be supportive of any impassioned, endeavoring soul. I’d rather not have history find me in the position of, say, Newtonian physicists in the early 1900′s who mocked Einstein’s theories, or religious devotees in the 1600′s decrying Galileo’s sun-centered universe. Nothing is impossible.
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How to Stay Organized as an A.D.D. Entrepreneur
Posted on January 8th, 2010 No comments
Augh! The colors!
I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel that keeping up with all of my ideas and projects is an overwhelming task. First, I’ll have (what I think is) an amazing idea. Then I’ll get all excited and scribble down a basic outline in my idea notebook. I’ll think about it more and lay down a plan over the next couple of days, and I might even get as far as detailed competition/industry research, building a website for the idea, etc. But inevitably, it seems that sooner or later the initial brain-fireworks wear off, and exciting fresh ideas come up to take their place. This is where the whole diligence thing comes in handy – something I am not skilled in. Yes, I am trying. And yes, I’m getting better at it. But when that new, shiny idea bubbles up and bursts fourth in all its wondrous glory, it’s so hard not to become enraptured with it!
This is a problem that many of us wanna-be entrepreneurs face. By nature, we are idea people. And that doesn’t necessarily come with the “diligence” add-on. But think about it: if you had seen every one of your great entrepreneurial ideas through to the bitter end, where would you be right now? If you had actually walked each idea into the real world and gave it every chance in your power to survive and thrive, would your life be different?
I’m guessing… YES. I know my life would be different. But that’s why I’m trying to close that gap – and the key for me is organization.
I don’t throw away every new idea that I get in favor of pursuing only one. I can’t bring myself to do that. So I try to prioritize and organize all of my projects in a way that makes it easy to see where they’re at and what steps I need to take. In fact, I made myself a spreadsheet to do just that – have a look:
My personal copy is a lot more full, but you get the idea. Since I started doing things this way, it’s been a lot easier to break every project up into meaningful steps, which I can then schedule myself to do one at a time. It also gives me a birds-eye view of everything I’m doing, and it keeps any ideas from falling through the cracks. (Unless I make the conscious decision to let it do so.)
Tell me, how do you keep your own world o’ projects organized? Do you have a system? I’d love to hear it! I’m always interested in new ideas. (But, you already knew that).