How to stop letting your best ideas slip away.

“That’s never gonna work.” You hear it all the time. You may even be the one saying it… or at least thinking it.

Have you ever noticed how many amazing stories there are about great ideas that were shot down a ridiculous number of times before they broke through the noise and became something big?

How many times did the publishers send Harry Potter away in shame and brutally rejected? It’s a good thing for us J. K. Rowling believed in magic.

This regular, normal person, Joanne Rowling, was a struggling, single mom with a story in her head. She didn’t set out to build an empire. She just wanted to publish her book.

Remember that guy who famously said, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

What a visionary! There’s just no market for computers in the home, is there Ken? *

“Why are you writing about computers, and markets, and million-sellers, and billion-dollar ideas that get shot down? What’s so untucked about that?”

You’re right, I got carried away. Stick with me for a moment…

The thing is, great ideas get shot down all the time. But I’m not really talking about the BIG ideas here. I’m talking about your ideas and my ideas.

Are you too quick to dismiss them? We all do it. We just don’t give ourselves enough credit for our own imagination… for our own creativity.

So, we shoot them down.

When we let ourselves, we think of new ideas all the time. It doesn’t matter whether we see them as big or small. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say, “the smaller, the better.”

That’s the point, let yourself try something you imagined and see what happens. It’s not asking, “what if?” so much that’s the problem. We talk ourselves out of trying when all it really takes is an experiment.

We buy into the platitudes of the ordinary.

“That will never work.” Then it does.

“You can’t do that.” Then you do.

“It’s just not done.” But, then it is.

“You can’t change it… that’s why it’s a recipe.” Then it tastes better. Because you tried something different this time.

Why is it so hard to try something that seems a little off center, even just a few degrees off?

It can’t be the cost of a bad batch of cookies or a pot of chili?

And what about them? Well, don’t let them shoot your idea down before you give it a go. Why are you asking them anyway? For validation? To convince yourself not to try?

That’s the untucked part… something little has the potential to spark something new. And when it works, it just feels right.

And because we’re being honest with each other…

Disclosure (aka – buzzkill): It might not work.

But that’s okay… you will have learned something.

Remember, those of us who try things that “might not work” are the ones who eventually get things “to work.”

That’s a rare trait.

Why? Because it doesn’t feel safe.

And whatever you do, don’t go down in a tail spin with your “it.”

Maybe there’s a message there too? There’s no need to tie your personal honor to an idea. Don’t anoint yourself captain and think you have to go down with your little idea ships.

At their core, they’re thoughts… imaginings. That’s all.

We’re talking about trying things. They’re just ideas. Just experiments. That’s what parachutes and second chances are for.

Did you catch that? “Experiments!” Try looking at trying out an idea as an experiment. It will help you get beyond the fear of failure.

Just like in high school chemistry class, it’s called an “experiment.” We will let ourselves try something new and just see what happens. Maybe even get a good laugh out of it. And maybe destroy the lab in the process.

It removes our attachment and takes our personal honor off the line. Suddenly, something new becomes something fun to try… which is a nice bonus.

You do remember “do-overs” don’t you?

They make it so you can try again. That’s the rule. You. Can. Try. Again.

It might not work.

But then again, it might.

You just never know…

Leave a comment below… What has worked for you? How do you keep from letting outside influence torpedo your best ideas?

* Ken Olsen, the founder of DEC (whom Bill Gates had idolized as a teenager), had been debunking the PC since 1977, when he told a convention of the World Future Society, “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.” (snopes.com)