My Million Dollar Year

I’ll bet a lot of you have some really great ideas that you haven’t done yet.

We all like to have good ideas, but most of us have a hard time acting on them. We try to justify our inaction with cries of “but I don’t have the time” or “I would if I had the resources.” We all get busy, but it’s no excuse for the long term. Maybe it’s that we think that the longer we wait, the better we’ll be able to execute them later. After all, the more you plan them, the better they’ll be later, right?

Wrong. These “good ideas” are addictive. No matter what happens, we always have our “good ideas.” We fantasize about how great it’ll be once we think of the best way to do it. Unfortunately, there’s a difference between these kind of ideas and “dreams.” Dreams are meant to be long term goals, and these ideas are supposed to be what gives you the experience to reach them.

Ideas give no mind to the hour, day, month, or year; as long as they’re kept as just ideas, they’ll linger on with their seductive nature. Acting on them will show their ugly, nasty imperfections, but they will be real. To leave them forever in the cocoon of the idea stage they will keep pristine and ideal forever, but it will also make them entirely impractical and useless. They will probably suck the first few times around, especially if it’s your first time trying something, but in the end you’ll have the experience to be that much closer to making it work. While you’re moving closer with each attempt, the one who sits on their ideas will still be dreaming of the perfect plan, unaware that eventually we all have to wake up.

Is there something you want to do? Stop making excuses. Go do it.

Now.

Ways to Handle Ideas

• Keep some kind of notebook or voice recorder with you at all time. I personally use an Olympus VN3100PC digital voice recorder and a pocket moleskine notebook. Write down every idea you have, no matter how impractical it may seem. Many great ideas spawn form the collapse of failed ones. There’s beauty in the breakdown.
• Make sure to always write the date with your ideas.
• Try to act on the ideas within a week. If you see an idea that perpetually remains only on the paper, find a way to change it so you can make it happen. No matter how good it is, it won’t do any good sitting on paper.
• Find someone you trust to discuss your idea with. Simply explaining your idea can help solidify it enough for action. This will also help pick out any previously overlooked complications. However, be sure to try to act on it soon after. Don’t get in the habit of only discussing you’re ideas.
• Save everything. Digital storage is cheap. Keep every shard of every failed project or idea. Keep them in a separate location if you have to. Work can often be recycled in to something else. Don’t throw away any of your previous effort.