The problem with ideas

I’m a haver of ideas. I always have been. Most of the time, this is a good thing and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But sometimes, it just becomes way, way too much.

The first problem with ideas is that they’re like some kind of virus that you can’t shuffle off. You have one, another breeds, a third follows shortly after that and mutates into something even bigger. Before you know it, your head is absolutely and completely rammed.

The second problem is that unless you’re a well-funded entrepreneur or self-made billionaire, you will never [ever] have the means to make all your ideas happen.

The third problem is that if you’re an ideas person, you’re jealous of your ideas. Intensely jealous. “First girlfriend is talking to my best mate” jealous.

The fourth problem is that if you’re an ideas person, you may well not care (or be very good at) about the implementation of your idea. You just care about the beauty (or at least the beauty that you perceive) of the idea, not the “funding” or the “business plan” or the “route to market”. You couldn’t give a shit about the bit that follows the idea.

The fifth problem is the internet. It makes you uneasy, aware, open. It makes you fickle. It makes you think you can do it – because, hey, building a website is easy, right?

The sixth problem is that your idea has been done before. And you hate that. You hate that the differentiator isn’t the idea, it’s the damn “implementation” of the idea. And although this has always been the case, the internet (see problem five) makes it even more readily apparent that someone else has done it already. Better.

I have to be honest. This is another way of saying this: I’m being eaten up. My head is in danger of going somewhere I don’t want it to go. I need an outlet, and I need it quickly.

So my idea (hey, another one!) is to take my ideas list – my coveted and beautiful ideas list – and just chuck it out there. Stop hiding, make it available. See what happens. I’m expecting nothing. And you shouldn’t, either. (I never said my ideas were any good, did I…)

It’s here, if you’re interested.