Not all ideas are good ideas

While this statement may seem like the most obvious thing in the world, it is amazing how often we don’t think through it rationally.

The vast majority of ideas are actually not very good.

And most of them are quite bad.

This is especially true at the very beginning of ideas, when they are not yet fully formed, and most resemble ugly babies.

Very few of these ideas will turn out to be truly creative and have an impact.

And that is ok.

Not every idea needs to be a winner.

In fact, this pressure will likely have the opposite impact to what is desired.

If you think that you are only likely to have a small number of ideas, then it puts the pressure on those ideas to be the right ones.

And as a result, people can become emotionally attached to their ideas and not want to stop supporting them when evidence shows they are unlikely to work, or something else may be better.

Truly creative people realise that it is far more effective to be open to ideas failing and being killed off with no emotional attachment.

This allows them to evolve those ideas quickly and decisively, or move on from them without regret.

And by allowing yourself to have more bad ideas, it increases the chance of just one of those ideas turning into something great.

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Nick Skillicorn

Chief Editor, Founder & CEO at Improvides Innovation Consulting

Creativity & Innovation expert: I help individuals and companies build their creativity and innovation capabilities, so you can develop the next breakthrough idea which customers love. Chief Editor of Ideatovalue.com and Founder / CEO of Improvides Innovation Consulting. Coach / Speaker / Author / TEDx Speaker / Voted as one of the most influential innovation bloggers.