John intends to start a business, Ada wants to write a book and Bayo is good at music and wants to become a professional musician. They have many ideas running through their minds about these things they want to do. John has a lot of business ideas, Ada has ideas of different plot lines for her book and Bayo has a lot of good tunes in mind. But they all have a common problem - how will they bring these ideas to reality?
Ideas are great but unless something is done with them, they remain worthless.
In this post, I will try to suggest ways to go about bringing your ideas to reality. The points are not exhaustive because I intend to make it brief. Please stay with me.
1. Get organised.
Scott Belsky in his book on this subject states that a surplus of ideas is as dangerous as a lack of it. The tendency to jump from one idea to another drains your energy and you struggle to make progress. Without some structure, you can become an addict of the brain-spinning indulgence of idea generation.
Let's consider two individuals, Tunde and Ahmed. Tunde has a lot of ideas but is so disorganized that no particular idea is fully realised while Ahmed with half the creativity and just a little more organisational ability makes more progress in implementing his ideas.
So we can see that someone with average creativity but good organisation skill will make a greater impact than the disorganised creative geniuses among us. This is why some 'less creative' artists might produce more work than their talented inventive counterparts.
You could boast and say 'I've got a lot of good ideas!' but it's of no use if you never turn any of them into reality. Remember, people cannot see into your brain to know what great ideas you have in there (at least not yet, I haven't heard of any device that can do that or have you?)
Therefore no matter the number of fantastic ideas you have running through your brain, you need to prioritize and focus on one or find a way to channel all of them in one direction(if possible) in order to get something out of those ideas. This will require some discipline.
2. Motivate yourself.
The world can sometimes be a cruel place and doing the unfamiliar brings you face to face with resistance.
In the words of Scott Belsky, society is a bit hypocritical. The mainstream shuns creative people especially when they defy the status quo. Dropping out of school or choosing an alternative career is frowned upon but at the same time we celebrate the successes of artists and entrepreneurs who took that path and have enriched various aspects of our lives. Society thus celebrates the outcome of what it frowns at. So you see that you may not get all the support you need from people around you and God help you if your idea is not what people are used to.
Hence you will have to learn to maintain your confidence when doubted. This means you need to believe in the success of the idea you are pursuing even amidst contrary opinions. Remember, there will always be naysayers.
3. Take the bold step.
Stepping out into the unknown can be scary. We all experience that inertia and that is why most ideas die before they come into reality.
But sometimes you just need to step out and you will be surprised at how things will fall in place.
Some years back, my friends and I had an idea about hosting an academic program for kids. We were still in the university at that time and we did not have enough money for the project. We needed to involve some VIPs and that would cost money. The odds were really against us but we stepped out anyway.
In the end, we were able to raise the amount we needed for the project. How did we do it? We were simply passionate about what we wanted to do and were able to sell our idea to those who eventually supported us even though they had not seen such a program before.
That made me realise that anything is possible and sometimes you just have to step out and begin to pursue whatever you have in mind even against the odds.
Let's say you want to write a book and ideas have been coming to you. But because you don't see the possibility of publishing the book due to lack of finance or other constraints, you have decided to neglect those ideas. Don't do that anymore. Start writing the manuscript of that book and put your best into it. You may be surprised that someone will like your work and offer to help you publish it. Even if nobody recognizes you immediately, keep writing and one day, the breakthrough will come for you.
Same goes for any venture you want to go into. Start small and watch it grow into something big.
One problem we have is that we see people who have built large business empires and celebrities who are excelling in their careers and tend to get discouraged. But the fact is, they did not just get there overnight. It took years of working on their ideas until they became reality.
4. Involve other people.
Sometimes you get more out if your ideas when you involve others. The idea of hosting a program for kids that I mentioned earlier was actually brought up by one of us and we all joined hands to make it work. The idea would have died if my friend insisted on doing it alone because it would have been extremely difficult for him to do it all by himself.
Nothing will assist your idea more than a team of people who possess real positive initiative.
The humbling truth is that ideas don't always happen through solitary ingenuity. Other people always play a role in pushing your ideas forward through their valuable suggestions. Your idea could gain a new dimension for good when others get involved.
Involving others make you accountable for being productive and following through with your project. If you work in isolation, your ideas come and go without accountability and stimulation from others.
Partnership helps you capitalize on feedback and it also helps you share the burden of executing the project.
However, partnerships must be carefully formed to avoid engaging the wrong people in your project. That would obviously be counterproductive. Don't involve just any kind of person in your project. Some people will end up killing your idea
As I conclude, let me say a few things worthy of note.
As you pursue your idea, don't get caught up in the novelty of what you are doing that you loose touch with what has already been done before. Note that not much is entirely new and you can learn from the past. As you encounter things during the the execution of your idea, know that the situation you face isn't as isolated and unique as you think. You can tap into previous knowledge which is usually risk-free and time-tested.
As you harness lessons from the past, you must also question them not in a bid to discard them but to avoid being imprisoned by the status quo. While it is certainly good to find and follow time-tested methods as you pursue your projects, it is dangerous to passively accept advice. Hence, rather than carrying on with the way things have always been done, recognise that anything can be done better.
I have to stop here. I can't exhaust all there is to be said on this subject but I believe you get the point I'm trying to make in this post. Thank you for reading. I do hope you found the post helpful.
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