Why I “Try On” Ideas

Today, I birthed an idea. It felt like a great one with massive potential. I live for these days and get really excited when an idea like this is gifted to me. But guess what. Not everyone was as excited about this idea as I was. And that’s ok. Here’s the thing about ideas: we can’t tie them to ego. We can’t hold on so tightly that we lose track of what we are collectively focused on. I still love this idea. But for now it gets written down and put in a special folder for later. Maybe. Or never. And that’s ok.

Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, and Leonardo da Vinci often wrote down observations and ideas in a personal notebook. This helped them keep track of brilliant ideas that might otherwise have been lost. But did every potential line Mark Twain wrote down end up in one of his books? Definitely not.

Don’t hold onto your ideas so tightly that you worship them.

The idea could be killer, and great, and also… not for you.
Don’t be scared of not having another.
Write it down.
Memorialize it.
Celebrate it.
Put it in your file.
Close the drawer.
Be ok if that’s the end of it.
Wait.
Focus on what you are supposed to be doing.
Now, does it haunt you?
Is it calling you?
A week could go by, or a month, or year…
Is that idea in the drawer calling your name?
Get it out and look at it and evaluate if now is the right time.
It’s ok if it isn’t.
It’s ok if you realize it’s not for you after all.

Because that amazing thing you are doing right now? Well, that was an idea equally as good as the one in the drawer. Sometimes we have to decide to say no to something great in order to say yes to something greater. Sometimes we have to decide to say no to a new idea in order to confirm our yes to what we are currently doing. And that’s ok.

Simply can’t decide whether an idea is worth pulling out of the drawer? Try it on for awhile. I’ve realized sometimes I scare people with the way in which I brainstorm and process ideas. I like to try ideas on and wear them around a bit. I fully commit in theory to an idea without actually committing in reality. For some reason it never dawned on me that this can be frightening to partners and those close to me. I have tried out ideas sometimes for days or weeks.

Sometimes these ideas turn into something special. Sometimes not. There are ideas I’ve really liked, but when I fully flush through them, by trying them on, I realize they are not a fit for me. And that’s ok. More ideas will come.