Why you fail to act on your ideas
Ideas are great. Ideas made the world what it is today. Think about all the great inventions in history. They are all products of ideas. While ideas are so great, one would expect ideas to be something rare and difficult to get, like a gem.
Fortunately, ideas are some of the cheapest things in life. We all get them every day. They are nothing until we bring them to life. As surplus as ideas are, many of us fail to act on them for various reasons. Maybe your idea will solve a problem facing people or it will add value to mankind. Remember it is nothing until you bring it to life.
Here are the reasons why you fail to act on your ideas.
1. Doubts
With every idea comes a doubt. Maybe it’s not a good idea. Maybe it won’t work. But how will you know if it will work or not. How will you know if it is a great idea or not if you refuse to act on it? The only way to confirm if your idea is good or not is to get up and work on it.
2. Procrastination
Procrastination is one of the reasons why many of us fail to act on our ideas. While there is a difference between procrastination and being lazy, the two lead to the same result which is a lack of result.
There are different reasons why people procrastinate. On top of the list is lack of motivation.
If you lack motivation to act on your idea, maybe you should revisit why you came up with that idea in the first place.
Did you intend to start a sea food restaurant because your community lacks one? That may be a reason but at the same time, it might not be motivating enough for you to act on the idea.
Maybe you can’t do without eating sea food in a day. You spend a lot of money transporting to another community every day so that you can get your beloved sea food. At the same time, you noticed there are lots of people like you who enjoy sea food in your community. From this, there is more than one motivation. If there is a sea food restaurant in your community, you won’t have to waste money transporting to another community every day.
You will save more money. Meanwhile, it is obvious there is a market for sea food in your community and there is zero competition. This is a great business opportunity.
Revisit your idea. Ask yourself why you came up with the idea. Look for motivation. Even if there was no motivation when you first came up with the idea, begin to look at every possibility. Find motivation in it. The motivation will be the fuel you need to start acting on your idea.
3. Fear of failure
A lot of time we refuse to take action because we are afraid of failing. Nobody enjoys failure. We all want to win.
But if everyone should be afraid of failure, then none of the amazing inventions in history would have been possible. Look at the invention of electricity, aircraft and every other great invention. They all are products of many try and failures. Without failing, there can’t be winning.
Looking at our sea food restaurant idea? Maybe you’re asking yourself, what if people don’t patronize me. What if I lose my money? Well, you won’t know till you try.
Start small and validate your idea. You can decide to make a list of ten persons you know who travel to the next community to buy sea food. Tell them you can deliver them their beloved sea food at a very small fee. You go and get the food and deliver it to them. From ten persons, you can increase the number to fifteen, twenty and above. You can do this for a while before you decide to open your own restaurant in the community.
Take away your fear of failure. Begin to work on your idea. If you fail, you will learn and improve on it. The more you fail, the more you get better and the more your idea comes to life. One of my most admired role models Elon Musk said, if you’re failing, you’re not trying at all.
4. Lack of knowledge
Every idea requires some degree of knowledge to enable us execute on them. Without the necessary knowledge, you might not be able to bring them to life, or at best, you might end up with a mediocre product. But this shouldn’t stop you from working on it.
Before you get started, find out what kind of knowledge is required to execute your idea. Is it a knowledge you already have. Do you need to acquire new knowledge? Or maybe your idea is bigger than you. In that case, you might want to consider looking for people with the right knowledge or skills to help you bring your ideas to life.
The internet today has also made learning extremely easy. You can find several courses on different learning websites. You can watch unlimited educational videos on YouTube.
For our sea food restaurant idea, you might enjoy the food but don’t know how to prepare it. What if you volunteer to work for free at your favourite sea food restaurant to gain some idea? I promise you they will be glad to take you in. From there you will gain the experience you require. You can also get potential partners who will be interested in joining your proposed restaurant.
The most important thing is that you get started. Mark Zuckerberg said, if I had to know everything about connecting people, I wouldn’t have started Facebook.
Most of the time, the little we know is sufficient for us to get started. As you work on your ideas, you will figure things out.
5. Listening to others
While it is good to listen to people’s advises, you should not let it hold you back from acting on your ideas. Often people will tell you not to work on your ideas because they don’t want you to fail, or simply because they don’t have the big picture.
Listening to people will also mean information overload to the point that you are confused and don’t know what to do. Ask people for their advice. Pick what you need from their advice and proceed to act on your idea the way you believe it will work for you.
I want you to realize that when you have ten reasons to act on an idea, there will be another ten reasons why you should not act on them. I challenge you today to get up and begin acting on your idea. The world will be a better place because you decided to make things happen.
Have you ever acted on an idea. Feel free to share how you were able to get started by commenting below. If you also have more to add to why people fail to act on their ideas, add them through the comment box below. I look forward to reading from you.