What to do with all those ideas/Wing from your Why/Productivity Starts with Purpose

“Your brain is designed for having ideas, not holding them”

 ~David Allen~

“My passion is not fueled by what I’ve done, it’s fueled by what I do.”

~John C. Maxwell~

One of the most exciting things in the world is a new idea. If you have ended up in the entrepreneur life, chances are you’re a visionary of some kind. You are someone who sees possibility in raw materials and who sees things not just as they are but as they could be. Creativity is intrinsic to who we are as people, made in the image of a Maker, but as innovators and entrepreneurs, we may be called upon to stretch those muscles a bit more frequently. And if you are anything like me, running your own business also means that you are thinking of ideas all the time, especially in relation to what you want to do next and how you want to improve. Sometimes the influx of ideas may feel a bit overwhelming! So what do we do with all those ideas? Here are some thoughts about that.

Dare to Dream

As entrepreneurs and visionaries, we are always looking beyond what already is to what could be. It is a beautiful and amazing part of a business to dream up what we want to create and what we want to work towards. Our dreams will often be big—not just little goals we can easily accomplish on our own. Big dreams will usually require learning, collaboration, challenging ourselves, and often significant amounts of time and energy. We can dream shorter-term dreams and longer-term ones as well. Sometimes it can seem like we don’t have time to do all this and that we should be doing more. However, it is crucial to keep a life and a business that are alive and dynamic to dream of. Let all those ideas come out, and don’t discount them. Write them down and record them somewhere. Not all of them will be right now, and that is okay! Your mind came up with them, so they likely have value. Perhaps some of them are to share with someone else you may meet, or for a completely different season of your life—a different you. Welcome to a steady stream of ideas, no matter how outlandish they seem; thinking about them will keep you in an open, childlike state that is wonderful for creating.

Dedicate Yourself to Your Passions

If we had all the time in the world, we could pursue everything and anything that interested us. Maybe in the next life, we’ll have that luxury, or perhaps in a later season of life, we’ll have a taste of that. However, we all have twenty-four hours, seven days a week, and there are responsibilities to fulfill and personal values to uphold. It makes sense to spend the majority of our time on the activities and subjects that directly align with our purpose, or the “why” we talked about at the beginning of this journey. Do the things that are meaningful and fulfilling, that line up with the reason you do what you do. Give yourself first to the things that light you up, that you could talk about for hours, and the things you care about the most. This doesn’t mean that you throw out all ideas that don’t fit in that category; just make sure that you have a focus and are moving toward the goals and dreams that make your heart soar.

Dance with Your Ideas Often!

For the other ideas that aren’t being selected and worked on, they should be saved and put in a “maybe someday” file, either on paper, digitally, or both. It is good to not only generate new ideas but also to go back over these past ideas often and see if there are any connections or relationships between ideas, if something sparks your interest, or if the time is right to start working with an idea, whether new or old. Ideas are wonderful in that when you write them down, they often don’t stay in the form you left them but have new insights and facets to share with you when you sit with them again. And I encourage not just sitting with them but dancing with them and seeing what they have to tell you.

Most of all, make sure you don’t just hold all your ideas inside. Let them flow out of you, record them, pursue them, dance with them, and be someone who dreams big. I love seeing people realize the life they dream of so that they can have time freedom and do what they are passionate about. Please reach out to me if that vision resonates with you. I want joy and peace for you, and most of all, passion!

Here’s Your Next Step:

If this blog stirred something in you — that whisper that maybe you’re called to more — don’t ignore it.

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