The Merit of Ideas

Ideas seem to come from nowhere. Yet when we look around it's ideas that brought almost everything in our society to life. Ideas have continually guided humanity from the beginning of our time. Ideas are ultimately what make the world go around, and it's the idea that there could be something more that drove people to dream of what could be and explore into the unknown. Being creative is a fundamental cornerstone of what makes us human - without the ability to envision what can't be seen (i.e. an imagination) we would probably still be living as primitive creatures not far from the cradle of civilization.

Ideas will come with openminded perseverance

It's easy to see the value in ideas because they lead to creative thinking which then leads to innovations that can transform the world. Yet, it's easier said than done. Henry Ford put it well when he said, "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it." Though it may be the hardest work, it certainly isn't the end of labors - quite the contrary, thinking is only the beginning. Entrepreneurs know this firsthand; they often say that ideas are cheap, and execution is everything.

Though ideas are certainly not everything, you don't have much without one. Try as we might, the closest we can get to a formula for an epiphany is cultivating habits that get us into a state of flow. Where ideas come from is one of the many great mysteries in life. One thing is for sure, persistence and consistency are key to finding inspiration. The ideas that transformed the world came from people who stopped at nothing to see them through. They continually dedicated themselves to bring those ideas to life and eventually to fruition.

But what about those ideas which fail? Certainly, not all ideas are created equally. It doesn't matter how much you believe in an idea, if it's a bad idea it will die out. In that way ideas naturally select themselves because the inferior ones can't survive. No matter how much money or talent you put behind a poor idea it's almost always destined to fail.

Generating ideas is a skill

Why do some people have a plethora of ideas and others can't seem to come up with one to save their life? Personally, I don't think there's that big of a difference between not being creative not really trying. Everyone has ideas float through their head, it's human nature - we simply can't help it. When people don't think they're that's a choice they made not to pursue ideas. That choice turned into something they identified with and grafted into their life.

We as humans are capable of so much more than we could ever imagine. When you press into these limits, you'll find that after persevering long enough some ideas will stick and the rest fade away. After making this a habit, you'll come to learn that good ideas are a result of sifting through all the ideas you can generate. After continual refinement, the ideas that have weight will stand out and will withstand the test of reality.

Some people believe that good ideas come from thin air. They believe that some people were just born with supernatural insights and are blessed with nuggets of wisdom that the rest of humanity just don't have access to. Though this might seem like a special gifting on the surface, upon closer examination it becomes clear that creativity is synonymous with intentional tenacity. Creativity is always built on self-confidence and the willingness to be wrong and learn from your mistakes. In the words of Johann Sebastian Bach, "I worked hard. Anyone who works as hard as I did can achieve the same results."

Don't wait for an idea to take action

People think that they need ideas before they should act. I have personally spent countless hours and days basking in indecision over whether I should pursue various ideas. At my core I was never confident enough in the merit of those ideas to do something with them. While stuck inside my head I couldn't fully figure out if those ideas would work. I needed to bring them into the playground of the real world to determine their merit. If you wait for the world, it will pass you by.

If you don't have an idea, take action and trust that inspiration will follow. If you have an idea and you're formulating the perfect plan, just start executing - there is no such thing as a perfect plan. These words are an example of this. I started this article without much clarity as to what I was going to write, but I did it anyway. You should never wait until you have a fully formed idea to do something with it. Just like motivation, if you wait around for a sudden gust of inspiration, it may never come.

It doesn't matter if you believe that original thoughts exist or not. None of that matters when ideas come face to face with reality. It doesn't matter how many amazing ideas you have floating around in your head, if you never do anything with them they'll go with you to your grave. For this reason, I've committed to bring as many of my ideas to life as is humanly possible. Who knows, maybe one of those ideas will transform someone's life.