by: Donna Doyon
"Ideas can be life changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea." Jim Rohn {American Business Philosopher, Author & Speaker}
Where are you when you get an idea? Are you driving in your car? Lying in bed? Shampooing your hair in the shower? Are you in a brainstorming session with co-workers or are you coloring with your small child?
Ideas can be life changing. While it isn't exactly an original concept, it certainly is valid. Ideas led to the invention of airbags and air conditioning, kitty litter and Kool-Aid, theme parks and thermometers. Someone had an idea. Someone acted on it. Lives were changed.
The question then becomes, who took the action? Did the person with the idea? Did he or she take a chance on a far-fetched idea and make it a reality? Or did the person share the idea with someone else and then walk away. Perhaps, in our litigious society, the thinker and the doer met up again in a court room, fighting over who should reap the financial rewards.
Of course, not all ideas bring in huge amounts of money. Some ideas improve the quality of our relationships. Think of the Mom whose idea it is to pack a picnic dinner, load the children in the car, and meet Dad at his workplace so that they can drive to the nearby park or beach for dinner. That's a great idea! The child who thinks to visit an elderly neighbor on a warm spring day also has a great idea.
But what happens when the Mom or child has an idea and doesn't act on it? What if the Mom is too busy, too tired, or worries that Dad won't like the surprise? What if the child wonders what he and the neighbor will talk about and decides to play ball with his friends instead?
What happens? Nothing changes. The family relationship remains the same. Dad comes home from work and finds things the way he always finds them. The neighbor sees the children playing ball in the street as she does every spring. Nothing changes.
Every day you have ideas. A song on the radio, a television commercial or a conversation may cause you to think of something that would brighten someone's day, change someone's life, or make you feel better about yourself. Each day you make the choice to act on your ideas or not.
But some ideas are fleeting. They seem to disappear as quickly as they came, and you may only remember them when it seems too late to act upon them. For instance, a man driving past a florist's delivery van may think: "I should buy flowers for my lady love," but before he can fully process the idea, a blaring car horn pushes the idea from his head. Later, when he learns from his love that her coworker received flowers that day, he thinks "Too late. If I buy flowers now, I will seem like a copycat."
If you find you have more ideas than time and energy to fulfill them, just relax and enjoy those you do act on. Some ideas may take years to develop and some may be discarded immediately or eventually.
What do you do with your ideas? Do you let them change your life or your relationships? Do you take a chance to develop them and reap the rewards or learn from the consequences? Or do you push ideas to the back of your mind and tell yourself they won't work, they won't make a difference, they won't matter?
Ideas can be easy. You probably sift through thousands of them each day. But ideas alone won’t improve your relationships, increase your chance for a promotion, or remodel your kitchen. You also need to take action on your ideas.
I challenge you to carry a slip of paper and a pen with you today. Jot down three or four ideas—thoughts—that occur to your throughout the course of your day. They don’t have to be innovative, highly creative, or even particularly useful. Some ideas are fun, commonplace, or seemingly insignificant. But amazingly, these ideas can have the most impact on your relationships or career.