The Three Core Traits All Lasting Ideas Share

A patch of turbulence broke me out of my trance. I glanced at the seats within view. A few people put down their devices and took a peek out the windows. A few others continued on as if nothing happened. Some people are more sensitive to it than others. I’ve flown countless times. I never seem to adapt to those bumps. Each one pushes up my blood pressure a few notches.
Logic tells me turbulence never causes plane crashes. Logic by itself is unconvincing. I still shake with fear at each bump.
Logic is overrated in all areas of life.
This is the mistake I made early in my sales career.
I made the same mistake early in my marketing career.
It’s the mistake almost everyone makes when spreading an idea or message.
Turbo Charging Logic
Facts, figures and data fail to convince the non-believers. All of that falls under the logic bucket.
Logic works best with emotion.
Emotion by itself will rev up a crowd. It gets the idea flowing. Without logic to back it up the idea loses steam. Intense emotion is hard to sustain on its own. It needs some sort of catalyst to keep going.
The Final Linchpin
The final piece of the puzzle is simplicity. Simple ideas require zero thought. Complex ideas require deep thought. They take time to understand. Complexity acts as resistance to spreading your message.
Here’s the good news.
Complex ideas can be simplified with labeling. Wrap up a complex idea into a one or two-word label.
Some of the most enduring ideas of our time survive by exploiting emotion, logic and simplicity. They also wrap up their ideas into one world labels.
Democracy taps into the emotional desire of freedom, controlling your destiny and security. The logical arguments of equality and representative government justify the emotional need. The simplicity lies in every man or woman has a voice.
Capitalism taps into the emotional desire of wealth, acquiring material goods and achievement. The logical arguments support it. Adam Smith’s Wealth Of Nations, presented a series of logical arguments justifying capitalism. Proponents tout those same arguments to this day. The simplicity lies in everyone reaps what he earns.
Religion is the best example. There is a big promise, typically salvation of some sort. Then there is the text that provides logic justification. Imagine the promise of salvation without any kind of logic justification. The emotional appeal would fizzle out before catching fire. Religious text is complex with different interpretations. The simplicity lies in the basic promise.
“You will be saved in the afterlife.”
Strategy Before Tactics
All these ideas share three strategic concepts
- A simple big idea
- An emotional appeal
- Logical justification
There are tactical things you can do to help ideas spread. What platforms do you promote? How do you craft your emails? What are the best channels?
The tactical has its place. It’s important, but it’s dependent on getting the strategy right.
If you have a new idea, make sure it ticks off all three boxes.
Call To Action
Lasting ideas are powerful concepts. You’ll find my best persuasion and creativity tools here.
One more thing. If you found value in this story, please click on the “clap” button below. That helps others find it. Or, share it on social media. Let me know what you think on Twitter @barry_davret

