Preparing a List of $1m Ideas

“Look at your life. Look at the ways in which you define who you are and what you’re capable of achieving. Look at your goals. Look at the pressures applied by the people around you and the culture in which you were raised. Look again. And again. Keep looking until you realize, within your own experience, that you’re so much more than who you believe you are. Keep looking until you discover the wondrous heart, the marvelous mind, that is the very basis of your being.” Tsoknyi Rinpoche

When the first covid-lockdown occurred back in 2020, we were ready.

We had recently returned home to Rotorua from a months vacation in California and saw the start of the spread — from China to Thailand, then Europe and across to the America’s — it was only a matter of time before it would reach us in the middle of the Pacific.

We quietly went about stocking up on food, water, toilet paper (“how did we know!”), books, games and even bought a small generator. A few months travelling across India showed us the necessity of having a generator and fuel on-hand. We stored everything as best we could and then came the announcement.

“AOTEAROA — NEW ZEALAND. GO HOME, STAY HOME!!”

And just like that, the entire country was locked in doors for 7 weeks from 11.59pm on March 25, 2020​.

It was then we saw the impossible happen — no more travel & no more tourism, no more imports of cheap goods nor export of primary produce & trees; no more international students and no more cars on the road. No more supermarkets and no access to the local shops. Everything dropped back to “essential services” only. Our entire economy now stood still and the entire nation, as too the World, was in shock.

Meanwhile, we geeks had been preparing for weeks and fired into action.

We joined online committees that had formed to provide support for the most vulnerable in our communities — the elderly, young families with small children, people who lived alone, carers & minders of the sick and those with disabilities. It seemed obvious that the Government was unprepared at the local level, activating an organic network to take on the challenge of looking after our tribe and our city.

Each passing hour, day then week brought about new challenges but as we grew in outreach, we also managed to connect with the farthest corners of our community using mobile phones, emails and social media because unlike similar times like this in the past, we had the internet.

A lot was learned then and subsequently, over the next 2 years, sharpening my own personal focus on what individuals, families and groups need & want and re-calibrating my efforts to concentrate more on core items, essential products and necessary services.

We deeply understood that community-lead initiatives do work, that trusted leadership is important and that our online community had skills that the entire country needed during those hard times — we finally gained recognition as being important to our own community.

It had been a long time coming but Māori geeks had finally came into our own by demonstrating only our skills as well as our capacity for intelligence, for empathy, resilience and never giving up, even when the powers-that-be seemed to have abandoned us.

Which is why I like this initial list of ideas:

What I like about this initial list is that it all of these ideas are sourced from my own experience rather than being generic shots-in-the-dark; the small ideas are creatable & can be sourced from within my immediate circle and the larger ideas allow me to tap into people I know who are equally passionate about doing something positive in this space.

What I need to do is create a slide that goes over these ideas in a story form that encourages engaged talk and feedback.

I’ve learned from lockdown to listen to what others are asking, to create a system that gathers feedback, both good & bad and that these comments are logged & compared, allowing for personalisation, & customisation, rather than a one-size-fits-all.

Once I have a draft slide ready, the idea is to link in with those of whom I am already talking too in this space, to gather feedback and to see who might be interested in advancing a plan.

I would prefer a prioritised-list so we can focus on those areas that contribute to the larger vision, rather than being distracted on unimportant side-quests.

And again, as we progress along the path, these ideas may turn out to be non-starters, with the real $1m opportunity waiting to be revealed just around the next bend.

I’m not committed to any 1 idea yet — more, I have to get some personal momentum going and see the whole before breaking it all down into parts that make up a plan, then reach out to my network to ask what others are feeling.

This is probably a strength to building locally too — every day I speak to people from all walks of life, so gathering notes face-to-face as well as online will greatly inform a Road Map and Action Plan. Should be a cool series of cups-of-teas.

For now, a more hairy me looking toward some unknown but optimistic future.

PT2K