Hey, that’s my idea!

Ideas are like seeds . They come to us in the form of thoughts , impressions or even lightbulb moments and ideas just like seeds are everywhere and everyone and anyone can get them. They could be inspired by our everyday life or a burning desire to solve what you perceive to a problem in your world. So what do you do when you have one? Do you sit on it? or Do you pursue it? Have you ever had a brilliant idea and shared it with all your family and friends , only to have it knocked down by their disbelief and doubts? The next thing you know is that the same idea you had has been developed by someone somewhere and that thing has become a great success. Painful isn’t it? I’m pretty sure that you might have experienced this , I definitely have. So let’s think about this for a minute. What has stopped you from pursuing your ideas so far?

In this article I aim to blast holes through any excuses you have left and inspire you to push that idea from just a thought into reality - your reality. I hope to spur you on to dig up and champion your ideas and pursue them . There is nothing worse than the pang of jealousy that comes when you see someone else who got the same idea benefiting from their pursuit of it when you had been sitting on the same idea all along . Here are 10 of the most common excuses of not developing your ideas and how I propose that you overcome them. Your world awaits you . Someone close to you is counting on it. Manifest your great ideas now!

1. I’m afraid my idea might fail. Fear. This is something we all have to face at some point in our lives. Someone once said to me that fear was only one thing , that is false evidence appearing real. If you look closely at this statement it even spells out the word fear. I have come to learn that the fear you feel comes to give you information to equip you to ensure that whatever it is that you are worried or fearful of regarding your idea does not happen. It will play visions in your mind of what failure would look like. So with that information in mind you can then work and plan tirelessly to ensure that what you were so fearful of doesn’t happen. You must learn to do it afraid . Push past the fear and dare to just start pursuing your idea.

2. I have no capital - If your idea requires heavy capital to start with then you definitely would be thinking that it is impossible to get it off the ground. In this gloom financial climate during the COVID-19 pandemic it might seem impossible to approach banks or investors to support your idea . This will never be known by you until you actually explore your idea by giving it structure, a plan and projection of the value that this idea will add. So until you have actually planned out and visioned out your idea, approached banks and sought out investors , you cannot let this thought alone stop you. You will be surprised at how quickly you would get assistance once you have shown what you have done to ensure that your idea is worth investing in. You also have the existence of Private investors or ‘angel’ investors who you can approach as well as venture capitalists who might consider investing for a share of ownership. There are also crowdfunding opportunities, grants funding opportunities depending on what your idea is. This is I f it is geared to more charitable work or non -profit work.

3. This idea will not generate any income. Not every idea is going to give you millions. However, if you compare the solutions to the society that your idea may bring or the change that your idea may bring , it may or could be worth far more than millions of money in the bank. If your idea is for the greater good then please explore it and birth it for humanity awaits you. As you deploy your finished idea , you may be surprised to find that the millions that you thought would never come would actually start to come to you. There are countless you-tubers with videos that went viral and went on to earn unexpectedly large amounts of money. What if they never chased up that one idea for a video?

4. No one believes in my idea- No one needs to believe in your idea because they never had it in the first place! Ideas belong to those who pay attention to it. You may have to keep some ideas off topic to some people in your immediate circle if you really have great convictions about it. This idea is your baby and you must literally treat it as such. A new pregnancy that you want to keep all to yourself until the baby bump starts to show. This way the success and impact of your idea would be making waves all by itself and that alone will keep every naysayer quiet.

5. I do not have the time to pursue it. Well as I said earlier , ideas are like seeds. I have learnt that with time seeds loose their power to germinate. Think about that for a second. We all have 24hours in a day. Make the time for developing your idea.

6. Someone else will steal my idea!- That’s what patenting is for . If your idea is something that has generally never been done before or an invention. In addition to this there is a saying that there is no new thing under the sun. So please do your research on your idea it may have been developed already.

7. I’m too old to do this- Whatever idea it is, as long as you are still alive, you should still pursue your ideas . I say this because whatever it is may bring such greatness to those around you, connected to you and those that will come after you. It is never too late.

8. My idea is similar to others and may not be useful- Yes this may be true. However, I always look at it from the point of view that though you may have the same idea or similar idea, the way that you will develop it makes it your own. It puts your stamp on it. This way it can impact people who are in your immediate circle.

9. It’s only a small idea and nothing major. Every big development or design or anything that has major influence started out as a small idea. Don’t despise small beginnings! Have you ever had a paper cut from handling a lot of paper? Doesn’t it just hurt so much? Yet it was from such a small thin paper cut. That’s my weird way of saying small does not mean insignificant. Greatness always starts small.

10. I don’t believe my idea is possible . Nothing is impossible. One of my favourite quotes from Nelson Mandela is “It’s impossible until it’s done”. So your idea is possible . Just breakdown your obstacles and see how quickly you overcome.

Remember that time and chance happen to us all. So spend your chances wisely. Seize every opportunity to develop and deploy your ideas. We might be seeing the next Steve jobs or Oprah!