It’s wonderful to have fresh, creative ideas. It’s even better when they come to you easily and plentifully.
Some ideas arrive in a flash of inspiration, while others emerge only after long periods of thought, research, and experience. Either way, it’s disappointing when those ideas don’t fly.
Assuming at least some of your ideas are good ones, they may be hampered in coming to fruition through no fault of their own.
A good idea is like a cart that’s not going anywhere until you attach one or more horses to pull it forward. Those metaphorical horses are the implementation phase of the creative process.
If you master the implementation phase well enough, even mediocre ideas can find their way into the material world, while the great ones can quickly begin to soar.
Here’s how to get better at implementing your ideas:
Externalize It
Ideas start and grow in your mind. But if they remain there too long, they become frozen in place and will often die a slow, perhaps painful death.
The way to begin giving your ideas a real shot at life is to get them out of your head. You can do this in several different ways:
- Document the idea. Whether you write it, speak it, or draw it, describe your idea in a wealth of detail, such as:
- What it does
- Who will use it
- Its benefits and drawbacks
- Any important specifications
- The experience it will provide
- Execute a prototype, a working model, a demonstration, or a least a simulation.
At this point, don’t bother ironing out the kinks or perfecting this early iteration. The goal here is simply to externalize what you are thinking so you can more easily move it further along its implementation pathway.
One good benefit of externalizing your idea is that you may discover obvious weaknesses, flaws, or drawbacks that previously escaped your attention. This early iteration gives you a chance to discover any such problems, as well as unsuspected opportunities for improvements.
Share It
One of the best parts of externalizing your idea is that you can more easily show what you’ve externalized to others and get their reactions.
- What do they like about your idea?
- What do they dislike?
- What would they prefer you change?
- How do they see themselves using it?
Sharing your idea with others also gives you the opportunity to solicit their input and suggestions, including:
- How you can make it better,
- What other use cases might there be for it,
- How you can involve others,
- Where you might go to gather more resources,
Map Your Way Forward
As a result of documentation and sharing, your idea will begin to solidify and take shape. At this point, you will naturally begin to see some next steps: ways to bring it closer to realization.
This creates the opportunity to organize and sequence these steps into a comprehensive roadmap for future action.
Think first in terms of making a great presentation. How will you describe your idea, itemize its benefits, explain its uses, and make it available to the various groups of users who will want it?
Next, consider who to bring on board: the individuals and/or organizations you will invite to participate in developing your idea and offering it for use. Start with a “dream” list of everyone who might have some reason or motivation to become involved. Later, you can narrow down this list so you can start reaching out to the most likely and accessible prospects.
In addition, it’s helpful to develop a plan for making your idea real and readily available, including any manufacturing, assembly, distribution, sales, service, and other elements that may be necessary or advantageous.
You should also give some thought to your own role in implementing this roadmap. For many innovators, this is where the road to the future gets roughest and most difficult to navigate. At some point, most innovators will encounter indications they should give others some or all of the day-to-day management, decision-making power, and/or ownership of the idea. Rarely does this come easily.
But when you want an idea of yours to come to fruition, as with raising a child, at some point you will find it necessary to take these steps and allow it to move out into the world more or less without you.
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