The Big Bad Wolf
Are your ideas living in fear?
Let’s be honest here. You have a lot of ideas. Yes, you do. Your just too afraid to actually let them see the light of day and to be vulnerable. You don’t let them breathe and have life because there is a big bad wolf out there who might rip out their throat, blow their house down, and eat their grandma. And, well you can’t kill something that isn’t alive.
How do we get the courage to share?
Here are a few things you should know that will help you out:
- You are not your idea.
- Your idea might not be “great”. Sorry, it just might not.
- But… what if it was?
The first point really deserves it’s own post entirely, but basically you need to get over the idea that your self worth is in your ideas, is in what you create. Sometimes in your career you are going to make some straight up crap, I mean boo-tee, and you can’t let that shape you. You will march on, cause you are not your idea.
Your worth isn’t in what you create, it is found by what your work creates in you.
The second point is a hard truth, but I also have to say this, “GROW UP”. Come on and be an adult and realize that you aren’t the best, and the only way you will get there is to realize that. Surround yourself by people who are better than you. Share your ideas, let them run, let them breathe in the fresh air and give them that moment of freedom they deserve. You might have to watch them get torn apart, you might have to be the bystander as you hold out your hand in pure agony screaming, “ATREYU!”, as it sinks into an abyss. This is how you learn, don’t put up a barrier and turn-off, instead…learn. “What about my idea didn’t work?”, “What about my idea did?” these are just a few of the questions you have to ask yourself.
The first step to being better is to realize you aren’t the best. The next step is to find out who is, and learn with a furious passion.
Our last point is all about the “what if” or as I like to call it foolish hope. What if you had something so brilliant that it had the potential to completely change the direction of “that” project. Even better yet what if you had an idea that spurred on others to share their ideas! Now you have created this dialogue where your entire team is communicating and feeding off of each others energy, angels are high-fiveing in the background, babies are being born, and all while this idea is now being crafted and formed into something greater than you could have crafted alone.
But…
You probably shouldn’t say anything, because it’s better to just have an opinion than to see yourself represented in an idea with your throat ripped out, as your spirit ascends to the heavens.
The risk is yours to take.
Authors Note:
Countless great ideas from my team have been the shy, under the breath, murmers that we all too often do. I salute these brave ones and love their heart to see us push harder and go further. Though as we continue to build the culture of our team I often question myself on how to rid ourselves of this fear, and to create a safe environment for ideas to thrive. After some thought and introspection I realized it isn’t beneficial to rid ourselves of this fear, but to allow it to make us sharper and enbolden us. We have to befriend the Big Bad Wolf, because without him we’d regret a heck of a lot more.
