The Great Idea Killer

Key Takeaways

[Music] give it a try all right okay here we go so the other day we were at a restaurant with a few friends and the menu at this restaurant was expansive now it it was not Cheesecake Factory menu expansive iive but expensive nonetheless Rob was one of our friends who was there with us was the second in the group to order and he just couldn't decide ever been there everyone's got a nice Rhythm they've already thought what they want to order you get to this person who just can't decide so after the appropriately awkward pauses filled in with recommendations from the waiter and recommendations from all of us and deep size the server said I I'll I'll come back to you and with each order Rob said as he listened to it going around the table T oh that's a good idea and then he pondered someone else's selection that's a good idea maybe I should do that and he went all the way around the table when the waiter came back to Rob at the end of the of the two or three minutes it took to make everyone else's orders he still hadn't decided the waiter a pro picked up on what was going on and said okay I'll come I'll put these orders in now and I'll come back in a few minutes and see what you've decided and then we'll get them in with everyone else's order so about 10 or so minutes later the server returned to the table and Rob decided finally in anxiety right uh to order this seab bass which was by the way the first thing he said oh that's a good idea about when he heard it around the table ah deep sigh the waiter said I'm sorry gesturing to his right these two gentlemen at another table over here just ordered the last two servings of Seabass that we had available for the night timing no se bass for you so how many times have you said to someone that's a great idea and then nothing nothing happens more personally how many times have you said that to yourself this is a great idea but then the idea died on the vine you move on months or years later maybe you might see that idea in reality popping up somewhere out in the wild fully executed the idea is a reality and you nudge a friend and you say hey hey that was my idea as if merely thinking of something having the idea somehow gives you ownership rights having an idea large or small isn't enough ideas come and go they aren't good ideas until they're tested sometimes we deliberately discard an idea because upon further investigation we realize that it actually is not a good idea it's not a great idea it's just an idea idea and then it appropriately vanishes as we step out into reality but many other times the idea that you or someone else had is well worth pursuing but it dies because we wait too long to take the first step in achieving the idea we overthink the idea we over analyze and over plan and over evaluate and we dissect and parse and shift and sift and thump and bump and rattle the idea until we convince ourselves that maybe it's just not possible we spent so much time thinking about the idea and running it through the merciless filter of our perfectionism that we just give up a deep sigh and then we move on but I've learned that the most most important thing about an idea is not to let it die through overthinking at the beginning all this overthinking that we do is actually best done while taking action not before taking action you got an idea take 60 seconds to imagine the idea finished not a whole lot more than that then go start take the first step get started then take another and another and now you've got something to analyze something to think about about keep taking those small steps until the idea or something similar to it takes shape write your first sentence start the conversation measure the space move the furniture break those eggs build the suitcase build the new suitcase that no one's ever thought of before pull your running shoes on start moving think while you're moving the longer we wait between the initial idea and the initial action of the idea the lower the chances that we will be able to make that idea a reality the sooner we move the greater the chances are that we're going to achieve something that eventually looks a lot like the original idea and that meets the need that prompted the idea in the first place momentum is a thing created even a little bit of it and you will likely succeed in bringing that idea from your skull out into the world pay attention to the dips mind the dips pay attention to the pauses mind the pauses that happen in the momentum and in energy and in that elusive motivation thing and then just keep moving create progress every day even very small incremental progress is enough to keep the momentum of the idea going creating the initial idea is only a very small part of the creative process itself recreating the idea idea a dozen or a hundred times as you move toward it is where the real creativity lives don't sit on an idea overthinking and over planning it before you take your first steps and begin moving toward it take steps now take action now I like to call that a bias for Action people with such a bias have a wildly different lives than those who have a bias for perfectionistic risk averse planning and evaluation before they ever take a step if you've got an idea that you've been sitting on for a while and if it still seems worth it take your first step toward that idea now I mean literally right now as soon as this video is finished make the call have the conversation take the step Don't Wait the step itself isn't a big deal doesn't have to be huge it's just a small step move you don't know if the idea is a great idea until you move toward it don't delude yourself into thinking that ideas no matter how compelling will simply take flight on their own they won't watch yourself the delay between the initial idea and you're taking the first steps is inversely proportional to the chances of the idea becoming a reality the smaller the weight time between the idea and the initial action the larger the chance that the idea will become a reality after all all great ideas are only labeled as such after they become reality back to our dinner table Rob looked a little forlorn he'd waited too long I think he settled for a pork chop nobody's ever said by the way oh that's a great idea let's all have pork chops with a side of Brussels sprouts okay you know what to do next you have an idea start here's to you [Applause] [Music]