Making Ideas Happen – Doing the Work to Make Your Ideas Real

There’s a popular saying attributed to Thomas Edison which states the following: “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” What this means is that having an idea is just a tiny fraction of doing something great. Ninety-nine percent of the equation is about doing the necessary work in order to turn your idea into reality.

Creative professionals often focus on inspiration and not so much on execution. However, even a fabulous idea is not worth very much–in fact, it’s probably not worth anything at all–as long as it’s not executed on. So how can creative people bring their ideas to fruition?

When an idea first hits, we’re filled with excitement to make it happen and we can’t wait to roll up our sleeves and get to work. However, once the honeymoon period is over and we’re faced with an endless list of tasks, boring meetings, and late night work sessions, we begin to feel the burden of execution. As Scott Belsky, founder of Behance and author of “Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality”, says: “Ideas are sexy and fun until they become projects.”

In his book, Belsky reveals the methods used by exceptionally productive creative leaders and teams – companies like Google, IDEO, and Disney, and individuals like author Chris Anderson and Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh – that make their ideas happen, time and time again. By applying the tips and best practices that Belsky reveals in his book, you too will be able to turn your ideas into reality over and over again.

Are you interested in becoming any of the following:

• The writer who’s a serial novelist.
• The entrepreneur who launches several successful ventures.
• The foodie who starts several restaurants.
• A profilic designer.
• The blogger who has multiple lucrative online deals going.

If so, “Making Ideas Happen” is the book for you.

The Project Plateau

There’s a period during the creative process which Belsky refers to as “the project plateau“, which is that time during which there’s lots of work to be done, a seemingly endless list of tasks to follow up on, a flood of small details that need to be looked into, and so on. It’s basically the time during which you have to do the grunt work.

In addition, during this period there seems to be no end in sight to the project you’ve taken on. No matter how hard you look, you can’t even catch a glimpse of the shore. Your inner critic is threatening mutiny. Your lizard brain keeps asking why you’re devoting so much time and effort to this project, instead of working on something “safe” which is guaranteed to pay the bills and put food on the table. Belsky explains that most ideas are abandoned at this stage.  That is, most people jump ship at this point.

Some of the obstacles you will probably face during the project plateau are the following:

• It can be a time of uncertainty during which you have to grope forward even if you’re not sure where you’re going.
• It can mean having to get back up after something completely unexpected happens that knocks you over.  In fact, there will probably be more than one of these.
• Your resilience will be challenged.  Your commitment to your creative vision will be called into question.
• You’ll begin to wonder if it’s one of those situations where you just need to push through the dip in order to emerge victorious on the other side, or if it’s time to cut your losses and move on to something else.

During the project plateau you can easily be distracted by a shiny, new idea.  After all, creative people tend to be very good at generating new ideas.  And you want to experience the natural high of the honeymoon phase of a project again.  This is the infamous “idea-to-idea syndrome”, which leaves behind half-written novels, new businesses abandoned at the pre-launch stage, product prototypes left forgotten in a desk drawer, and so on.

You’re particularly vulnerable during this time because, while you’re traversing the plateau, you’re not getting rewards such as money and recognition. But if you don’t see your idea through to completion, and, instead, you keep jumping from idea to idea, you’ll never accomplish anything meaningful. “Making Ideas Happen” is your roadmap through the vast, seemingly endless sea–or the harsh, expansive desert, depending on which analogy works best for you– of the project plateau.

(Great Sand Sea – Desert photo is courtesy of Al Ianni).

Basic Project Management

Some of the things Belsky has to say will sound familiar to those who have been reading about productivity for a while (and to regular readers of this blog):

• You can spend all day being reactive–responding to all of the different stimuli that you’re bombarded with all day long (emails, Twitter, phone calls, and so on)–, instead of being proactive and making the time to work on the things that matter most to you.
• Belsky explains that very productive people schedule “windows of non-stimulation” in their day.  These are 2-3 hour periods of time during which they minimize all sources of incoming communication. During this time, they focus on a list of long-term items – not their regular tasks, but long-term projects that require research and deep thought.
• Break your projects down into actionable tasks, that is, action steps.  Action steps are succint tasks that start with verbs.
• Create a list of “Backburner Items”.  These are ideas that come up during a brainstorm or while you’re working on your project that are not actionable but may someday be.  Create a ritual to revisit these items periodically.  For example, one of the leaders Belsky interviewed prints out his list of Backburner Items on the first Sunday of every month. He grabs the list (and a beer) and then sits down and reviews the entire list. Some items get crossed out as irrelevant, some remain on the list, and some are transformed into Action Steps.

Share Your Ideas – Forget the Myth of the Lone Creative Genius

A lot of people have a tendency to want to keep their ideas to themselves; they fear that if they share their ideas before they’re “ready” people will steal them. Another fear is that the idea may be too “raw” to be shared with others. However, Belsky points out that creative people who are successful at turning their ideas into reality time after time have a tendency to share their ideas with others. They push their ideas out there and share them liberally with other people.

Belsky uses Chris Anderson as an example.  Chris is the editor-in-chief of Wired. Every time that Chris has an idea he publishes it on his blog. He accomplishes two things by doing this: First, he can gauge from the reaction he receives in the comments section of the blog whether there’s any real interest in the idea and whether it’s an idea that should be materialized.  Sharing your idea can help you determine whether there’s a market for it.

Second, he creates accountability. If it’s an idea that people really like, they start hounding him and pressuring him to do something about it.  If no one bugs him about the idea, he reasons it’s probably an idea that should be allowed to die off.

Here’s a quote from “Making Things Happen”:

“The notion of sharing ideas liberally defies the natural instinct to keep your ideas a secret. Yet, among the hundreds of successful creatives I’ve interviewed, a fearless approach to sharing ideas is one of the most common attributes.”

Conclusion

Take your ideas to the end line. One of the things that Belsky emphasizes is that you don’t have to be a creative genius in order to be successful.  What you have to do is execute on your ideas and push them to fruition.

I’ll leave you with the following formula from “Making Ideas Happen”:

Impact = Creativity  x  Organization

How do you make your ideas happen?

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I Recommend:

My ebook “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists” explains that creativity is not the sole domain of the arts but is important in any field. Whatever you do, creativity helps you do it better. Discover practical advice on how to be more creative in every life endeavor by reading my ebook.

The Sedona Method is a simple, powerful, easy-to-learn technique that shows you how to let go of any negative, unwanted or painful feelings you may be experiencing at any particular moment. It consists of a series of questions you ask yourself that lead your awareness to focus on what you’re feeling in the moment and gently guide you toward letting it go. Read my review of the Sedona Method here.