Miscellany

Why Are You Throwing Your Idea Away?

August 21, 2012

Most people throw out an idea before it is ever give a chance to reach it’s full potential. Ideas, like plants, need time to grow.

photo by Brit.

They need to be planted and cultivated. They need to be cared for and given a healthy environment in which to thrive. Just as a small tender plant doesn’t grow in the cold, harsh winter, neither will an idea.

Ideas need fertile ground and sunlight. They need vision and hope.

What if the “crazy thought” you just had could be your next great idea which could lead to fulfilling a lifelong dream?

There is an old saying that goes “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” As obvious as it seems in real life, we can actually apply this concept to our ideas just as readily, but we hardly ever do.

Our ideas are thought of as being a dime a dozen, and they do come and go easily. Did you know, however, each of us has at least 3 one million dollar ideas each year?! Nearly all of them are shoved aside and never pursued and therefore lost, only to be discovered by someone else.

Give your ideas a chance. You never know where your they may lead.

And though ideas are wonderful things, they need action to give them wings. They cannot become anything without action. Therefore let your ideas form and grow. Then take action to let them fly.

Don’t toss them out just because your mind tells you they won’t work.

Sometimes you have to tell your mind what to think rather than the other way around.

Question: Have you tossed any of your ideas aside?

 

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  • Ann Musico August 21, 2012 at 7:43 am

    Wow – 3 one million dollar ideas each year??  That’s amazing.  I will have to pay more attention to those crazy ideas that flit through my mind like lightning bugs from now on!  You compared nurturing ideas to growing plants – I think that’s where my problem may lie.  I am notorious for killing plants.  My grandmother had a green thumb and could make anything grow – me, well, not so much!  I will work on this!!

    • Claudia Good August 21, 2012 at 9:41 pm

      Isn’t that crazy Ann?!!
      I’ve heard a couple people say that, one being Dan Miller. Yea, catch those ideas and put them in a book or somewhere, they are valuable!!!

      Oh, hahaha, well, I used to be horrible at nurturing plants as well. Then I switched to plants that grow easily under any conditions and I realized I needed to water consistently. That did the trick! I was expecting them to grow without water!

      Or, even easier, I have rooted plants in water in unique vases. They don’t need any care because they are already in water! Love that kind 😉

      Haha o dear, I got distracted talking about plants… 

      Well, you might kill some plants but you have become great at nurturing your body and countless others! 😉 I’d say the body is more important than plants anyway!

      • Ann Musico August 22, 2012 at 6:25 am

         Haha thanks for the encouragement, as always, Claudia!

  • Michael Wright August 26, 2012 at 10:47 am

    Sure – when the rubber meets the road, I’ve had ideas fizzle out on me.  I recall back in January, I was exploring the idea of being a “balloon twister” for parties and events for extra income.  There was a guy that was always at the autism events and my daughter loved it.  So, I got some balloons, a book and learned how to do it.   I event volunteered for a fund raiser at a special needs school without ever having done this before and did pretty good considering, got invited back again.  I even met a contact there that had several events he was going to connect me up to – and then I started emailing several “clowns” in the area and realized I needed to buy liability insurance for starters…an investment I wasn’t sure I wanted to make for an experimental business.  Then I started to think I needed to have a stage presence, entertaining, funny, etc, if I was going to do well at kids’ parties, etc.  Then I thought about the marketing, finding business, etc…and guess what – I have a box full of balloons in my closet.  That balloon fizzled – I guess at least put out a “trial balloon” before I let the idea fly away.

    • Claudia Good August 29, 2012 at 10:25 pm

      You are a great story teller Michael! Well, who knows, maybe the balloon idea will ‘pop’ back into your life down the road. 😉