GarthBox

Shiny ideas are, well, shiny. And many-a-shiny-idea has turned into a remarkable success story.

I often wonder how quickly one should jump to the future-state of a fun idea, though.

There’s some sweet spot between there being an idea that everyone is gung-ho about, excited, riffing on and bonding over and then the future-state reality of questions like “does this align with our business goals?” “can we afford it?” “is this actually worth it?” “what will the board think of it” “what does success actually look like?” “what does failure look like?”

You know, when ideas go to die an honorable death.

In the early days of my career I was investing much more time in the ideation and shiny object stage. These days? I’m finding myself more quickly jumping to the future-state.

Perhaps I’m merely more interested in shiny ideas that will work than shiny ideas that won’t.

It’s an efficient process with a winning track record, but it does beg the question of how soon is to soon to imagine an idea in its future-state at the expense of the joy of ideation and collaboration.

Right now the thinking is: faster to the future-state because if the fun idea is also a functional idea, it’s far more fun to brainstorm and collaborate than when it’s not.

Stay Positive & Enjoy Winning Together As Much (If Not More Than) Ideating Together

When there’s momentum, it’s tough to stop it.

There is a reason that when you do something for 30 days, it becomes a habit.

The question that remains is what’s your list of what is tough to stop right now?

And more importantly, are you proud of it?

Stay Positive & Thankfully Altering It Is Just A Matter Of Starting Something Else

Setting the argument completely aside around the fact that you make time, you don’t just have it… The realization or commentary you offer about having not time is a real occurrence.

When catching yourself with it, however, it’s worth a follow up question: does the feeling of having no time stress you out or as it actually because you’re doing things that are fulfilling.

Too often I see people (myself included) jump to the conclusion that “have no time” = stress.

When in reality it’s quickly stomped out when there’s a moment taken to reflect on what is all filling that time.

Unless, of course, you’ve been asked to do something you don’t want to. Then it’s totally fine to say you don’t have time. 😛

Stay Positive & Take Inventory Of The Time, You May Be Surprised At What You Find

There’s a lot of ways to evaluate if something is worth it.

You can write down all the reasons, look them over, and decide if they add up to more than the cost associated with the idea.

You can get someone else’s input on it and take it as final word.

You can ask yourself, if I only had one hour to spend today on something, would this be it?

There’s a thousand ways to evaluate the worth of a task.

The only wrong answer is to not.

Stay Positive & Go Ahead, Pick One And Move Forward

Here’s a good swap: instead of making things more difficult when they don’t need to be, make things more difficult where it benefits you.

Basically, take the premise of out-of-sight, out-of-mind and apply it to other areas of life.

Turning your phone all the way off so that you can read more of your book at night is a great way to make it more difficult to get pulled into the social media vortex.

That item on your to-do list…the one you keep putting off because it’s the hardest one on it? Put something harder down that you’ll want to avoid.

Make it harder to skip a workout by scheduling it with a friend.

Automate savings transfers from every payback.

Join a class on a topic you know little about in order to make it difficult to fall in a rut.

Ironically, it’s quite easy to make things harder. It’s on us to do it in a way that is to our advantage.

Stay Positive & What Can You Make Difficult Today?

The more connections between people that you can make, the more fulfilled you feel, the more sticky the product, and the more remarkable the endeavor you’re focused on becomes.

An interesting exercise: place the # of connections you think the idea you have, a competitor product has, or your favorite app creates on a daily basis.

You’ll notice three things:

1. It’s easier to make more connections (i.e. opportunities for people to connect) than you think – especially when you make it a daily focus
2. You’ll see a strong correlation between reaching success and the # of connections you create – and sooner than you think
3. More unique opportunities will take place – meaningful ones outside your scope

Stay Positive & Go Connect

Let’s set the record straight together that impulses don’t inherently need to be a bad thing.

If your impulse is to hold the door open for the person exiting it behind you, that’s great.

And that impulse buy? Well, I’ll admit I bought fancy swedish fish candy while waiting for the deli to make the sandwich I ordered. I’m enjoying a few pieces of that right now as I type.

Impulses foster creativity and innovation because they can break the mold of conventional thinking.

The experience created from the impulse creates a learning opportunity that drives personal growth.

Perhaps the next time you notice an impulse, maybe it’s not as bad of a thing as you’re reacting as if it is.

Stay Positive & Highly Recommend