Approval Kills Ideas and Projects

Elizabeth Lam
Aug 25, 2017 · 2 min read

As a child I was an avid day dreamer. I was staring out the window creating my own realities and hypothesis in my head. If I was disinterested in what was happening around me I’d check out into my own world. Day dreaming is a proven way to stimulate the mind and leads to amazing benefits.

My mistake was that I was terrified to share the ideas that were a result of the day dreams. I never wrote down, drew or talked about them. My biggest fear was that once those ideas became a tangible object they could be discovered. Once an idea could be discovered they could be rejected. Back then, (and sometime still today), rejection was the end of my little world.

The ideas that brought me joy stayed in my mind to be lost and forgotten. I can’t follow a paper to trace back my thinking and reflect on the progress I’ve made. I can’t go back to an idea bank to spark new ones.

I lost so much because I never materialized my ideas.

I lost the potential to discover my passions.

I lost an opportunity to test myself and grew.

Most importantly, I lost a chance to make myself happy.

The passing ideas that came and went took the smile that they gave me. Although it is fun to run with your imagination I was still left with nothing at the end of the day.

I allowed rejection to steal my ideas and happiness.

It took me some time to release that my ideas were still valid even if they were bad ideas. Some of the worst ideas I ever had brought me so much joy. Once I accepted that sometimes you don’t need a good idea you just need your favorite idea to make you happy.

So go make clothes for dinosaurs. Write about how you think printers and pens are creators. Give a talks about how watches are dictators.

Run with the ridiculous! Because if you’re going to turn an idea into a reality or passion project it might as well make you smile.

Elizabeth Lam

Head Coach at Project Studios


Here’s a quick sketch of a formal dinosaur in his fancy new clothes.
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Elizabeth Lam

Written by

Head Coach at Project Studios www.projectstudiosco.com

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