In a September 11th blog post, Mr. Purple Cow marketer himself explained to an inquiring mind why he’s never stingy with his ideas.
Since our Company – Epiphanies, Inc. – is all about using the “A-Ha!” (Bold Insight PLUS Joy-Filled Action) to catapult your life and biz to new heights, passions, and profits, I thought his eloquent response was worth sharing here on our “A-Ha!” blog:
…[I]deas are easy, doing stuff is hard.
My feeling is that the more often you create and share ideas, the better you get at it. The process of manipulating and ultimately spreading ideas improves both the quality and the quantity of what you create, at least it does for me.
History is littered with inventors who had “great” ideas but kept them quiet and then poorly executed them. And history is lit up with do-ers who took ideas that were floating around in the ether and actually made something happen. In fact, just about every successful venture is based on an unoriginal idea, beautifully executed.
So, if you’ve got ideas, let them go. They’re probably holding you back from the hard work of actually executing.
Right-eo, Sir Godin. Right-eo! So many people get stingy with what’s going on in their brains. “If I share the stuff I know openly, my competitors will steal it!” or “My clients won’t pay me for my services!” or “Someone will run with my million-dollar idea, and I’ll be bitter for the rest of my life!”
Yes, all that may happen, it’s true. But if you haven’t committed to an idea enough to put some actionable OOMPH behind it, you can’t be that in love with it, can you?
By all means, BRAINSTORM. Experiment. THINK. Dream. WONDER. Imagine.
Work it out in your head, talk with trusted friends and colleagues, do research, poke around the Internet and see who else is doing something similar to what’s on your mind. (And if it’s a good idea, 9 times out of 10, there ARE others playing in your idea’s territory!)
But if you find yourself dwelling in the Land of Ideas for weeks, months, and even years and never actually DOING something about ANY of your brilliant thoughts, chances are there’s a reason for your obsessive hoarding, and it’s a four-letter word that starts with “F.”
F-E-A-R.
