|
Ideas are easy, implementing them is hard
I've know a lot of intelligent people in my time - some of them highly intelligent. Yet many of them aren't much more successful than average. How come?
I think the big problem is that they often over-estimate the value of their ideas, and underestimate the value of implementing them.
Many smart people think a good idea is worth a lot. They start companies and print business cards with pictures of light-bulbs on them. They believe someone is going to pay them a lot of money to lie back and think deep thoughts - while some less intelligent underling does the work to actually realize what comes out of their over-sized brains. They suppose the way to get rich is to scribble down a design of something smart.
But they're wrong.
Actually, good ideas are so common that they have almost no value whatsoever. Go to any pub, and you'll see a bunch of blokes sitting around with beers, spouting out reasonably good concepts left, right and center. Every half-intelligent person can come up with an inspirational scheme for getting rich.
The people involved usually then worry about someone stealing their ingenious concept - as if it were a suitcase full of cash just waiting for someone to carry it away. They're terrified that as soon as such genius becomes public, competitors will spring up all over the place.
In fact, this is extremely unlikely. Competitors in any field can come up with their own equally brilliant concepts. They have no reason to steal an unproven idea from anyone else for one simple reason.
A good idea, like talk, is cheap.
The true sign of genius isn't coming up with the design in the first place, but implementing it. For even a dull idea, bought to realization, will stomp all over one that exists only as scribbles on a piece of paper.
Implementing any idea well - whether it's a romance novel, a piece of software, a business, an invention or a dance event - is extremely difficult. Much harder than actually coming up with the scheme in the first place. Being able to pull that off is where most competitive benefit comes from.
The man who's arguably the greatest inventor in history, Thomas Edison, summed it up succinctly when he said: "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration".
Because of this, and the reality that most intelligent people waste their time on inspiration only, you're offered a big competitive advantage in whatever field interests you. Simply by being a person who can successfully and completely implement ideas, you'll trounce even the most cerebral of idea-people. While they're agonizing about how to protect their precious scheme from concept-theft, you can be building something concrete.
Most ideas, no matter how brilliant, are worthless without a concrete implementation. That's because ideas are easy but implementing them is hard. Become a genius at execution - at seeing through an idea to the end - and you'll find others will treat you as extremely valuable. And you'll almost certainly become a great success.
 | Emotions are like muscles, you need to work them out | | It’s amazing how much of our lives are controlled by our emotions. In fact, it could be said that pretty much everything we do is in pursuit of some sort of emotional comfort. If you’re hungry, lonely or cold, your emotions are going to let you know by making you feel miserable. This is generally a good thing. |  | If investments become cheaper, and you’re a buyer, that’s a good thing | | In the last few years, stock markets around the world have been hammered. Currencies have also fallen to historic lows. People see their portfolios down and are running scared. |  | A key secret of effectiveness | | What is effectiveness exactly? It's a special term that can sell a million books, and make or break a commercial enterprise. It's a key difference between the average and the successful in this life. And the main secret of it is as simple as it is powerful. | | How your identity can hold you back | | We all have this picture inside our heads of who we are. And let's face it, for most of us, we're probably a little bit more generous than reality warrants. Who doesn't secretly believe that they may be a little smarter, more attractive, and more moral than those around them? |  | We are defined by our ignorance | | What defines us as human beings? All sorts of things. But one key quality stands out above almost all others - our complete and utter ignorance. It's the human condition - we know so little about who we are and how the world works, that it almost cripples us. | | Take responsibility for your actions | | Let me tell you a few things about my childhood. When I was seven years old, my parents divorced. They had been fighting many years, and it's difficult for me to remember them ever being in love. |  | Be willing to crash and burn sometimes | | We all have trouble dealing with failure. We play so many mental tricks on ourselves in order to pretend we aren't avoiding it, that they can sometimes become all consuming. At night, while asleep, we have terrible nightmares of others disapproval, or the world rejecting us. | | The conditions are never going to be ideal to get started | | What's interesting about the question "What can I do to improve my life?" is that most people already know the answer. They know what's missing and often exactly which steps they have to take to fix the problem. So why don't they just do it? | | Much of what we see as real exists only in our heads | | Humans are incredibly imaginative creatures. We are constantly coming up with new ideas and re-examining old ones. We are filled with ideas that hold a powerful sway over us, even though many of them have no real existence outside our own heads. | | Don't get too easily discouraged | | Occasionally, you may come across someone who appears as if they were born an expert in something. Perhaps it's sport, meeting people, business or family. Some of us just seem to be stars, while others are common. |
New articles are being added all the time, so make sure you bookmark Paul's Tips and come back.
|
|