22 Jun 2010, Posted by Cris Buckley in Inspiration,New Entrepreneur, No Comments. Tagged creative thinking, entrepreneur, ideas
Your Ideas Are A Gift–Let Them Live!
Photo by pasotraspaso
In 1989, When Laura Fitton was 17 years old, she was at home, watching the Berlin Wall come down. And in her mind, she pictured herself dancing on the Berlin Wall. It was a wonderful and compelling idea to dance on the structure that had been such an emblem of hate and oppression to her as a child.
Her parents were away for the weekend. She had a passport. She had money in the bank. She had the idea. But—in the end—she didn’t do it.
Six months later, she told this story to a friend. He said, “Laura, ideas like that are a gift. Most people don’t have the idea. They don’t go because it never occurs to them. If you are getting ideas like that, you have to act on them.”
That conversation changed Laura. Today, she is the founder of Oneforty, a Twitter app clearinghouse. She’s developed a bias for action, acting on maybe 9 out of 10 of the ideas that come to her.
(You can watch Laura tell this story herself in this interview with Mixergy.)
Your ideas are also a gift.
But—like most of us—you’ve probably never honored them as the gift that they are–and so they’re aborted before they’ve had a chance to draw their first breath.
Other people won’t act on your idea because it’s never occurred to them. You, and you alone must act on your ideas to give them a fighting chance.
Here are four simple rules to help you act on that spark of inspiration-—two don’ts and two do’s:
- DON’T listen to your inner critic—the voice inside that says, “This is stupid.” “This will never work.” Etc.
- DON’T go for consensus—don’t ask who else thinks this is a good idea.
There will be plenty of time later to expose your idea to the elements.
- DO honor your idea as a gift by writing it down.
- DO act on your idea by following your natural curiosity. Follow the rabbit trails that your idea presents.
Here are some prompts for following your natural curiosity:
- In light of my idea, what do I want to know?
I wonder if…
I wonder how…
I wonder what…
I wonder who…, etc. - In light of my idea, what do I want to do?
I want to try….. - In light of my idea, what do I further want to imagine?
…when one rabbit trails leads to another. 
Your ideas are a gift. Don’t let them die. Honor them by writing them down. Take action by following your natural curiosity. And let your ideas live!
What will you do with your ideas?
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