The Big Idea Is Less Ideas
When I watched this video the first time it was as if the clouds had parted and a beam of brilliant light was shot down from the heavens upon me. It was definitely a eureka moment. After twelve plus years in the creative business, I finally had an explanation for a sneaky, repetitive, and evil productivity pitfall I’ve recognized time and time again, but never knew what to call it or how to combat this frustrating behavior.
I can’t think of how many clients and colleagues I’ve watch suffer from this awful gift of idea generation. I’m not saying idea generation isn’t a great thing, it certainly has its time and place. Without it we’d still be living in caves grunting over the excitement of fire. But sadly, I’ve watched the “Idea Generation Trap” bankrupt multiple companies, large and small. That’s how dangerous falling into this pattern can be. How about you? After watching the video below, have you seen it happen? Are you guilty?
Thankfully Belsky provides some great explanatory visuals and insightful work-arounds for keeping big idea projects on track. Making this possibly one of the most valuable ten minute videos you may ever watch.
After reviewing this video at least 15 times, and giving this topic some serious thought; it occurred to me that most people only make a few excuses on why they don’t or won’t see a good idea through to fruition. It pretty much always boils down to budget or time. If you don’t believe me check this out #99excuses.
And while those sound like reasonable explanations I’m positive the roots run much deeper than that psychologically; almost to the point of being too scary to acknowledge for most.
Here’s a brutally honest opinion on what makes the idea generation trap an easy deflection tool. All four items below feed off of each other to create the perfect opportunity for idea failure:
Poor Planning: The idea was the easy part, and the old saying – failing to plan is planning to fail still rings true. Failing to plan is generally combination of the following three factors.- Fear: Understandably nobody likes to fail, but the fear of unknown risks, from lack of planning, kills great ideas by the minute before they have a chance to blossom. Second, fear from personal insecurities can also manifest repeatedly through out the creative process causing delayed decision making or loss of focus that will likely spell doom for the idea. Pushing past the fear with knowledge, planning, and organization gives an idea a fighting chance to come to life.
- Focus: This is where the less ideas come in. If you believe in your idea and have the research and vision to back it up, you should have the confidence to say NO. NO to the thousands of forces that will try to demolish the idea and project before completion.
- Knowledge: Ideas derail during the creative process because inevitably you find roadblocks, hundreds of them. Questions left unanswered by brainstorming session. Questions so hard, it’s easier to give up because they can’t be solved in a single days work. Posh. Do your homework. Plan for those roadblocks. Hire the professionals with the tools to make the action happen. Listen to them. Trust them. Understand their processes. Understand the whole picture of getting your idea from point A to point B. Map it out. Have fun along the way, and celebrate the little victories. It was your idea… own it… never stop learning!
On that note I’m going to keep digging deeper into what Scott Belsky and www.the99percent.com have to say. Looks like I’ve barely scratched the surface by finding their 10min video. Belsky is also the author of Wall Street Journal Best Seller: Making Ideas Happen. I think these guys might be on to something.
Never Give Up!
