Growing Ideas

"By believing passionately in something that still does not exist we create it.  The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired."  -- Nikos Kazantzakis --

No matter what our big ideas are, we all have them!  We all have dreams, plans, and things we imagine that we'd love to see really happen someday.  Maybe our ideas involve a book we want to write, a lesson to plan, a piece of art we hope to create, a proposal we want to make at work, or perhaps a group we want to organize.  Many of us live with our ideas for years and then eventually let them go or put them on the back shelf while life keeps moving on.  They stay seed ideas forever.  Then there are those people that actually take these seed ideas, nurture them, believe in them and make them grow so they become reality.  Dreams in action!


So, what is it that keeps so many of us from taking our big ideas from seed to plant?  What separates the doers from the "maybe some dayers"? These are questions I've been tossing around in my head for some time now.  As I continue to come up with passionate ideas for books or articles I want to write, organizations I want to create, or possible directions I want to go with my career, I find myself allowing my ideas to be put on the shelf and fizzle out before they even start to grow. I'm ready to tackle the things that get in the way of making my ideas grow and instead do the things that will make my ideas and dreams a reality!  


Things That Get in the Way of Growing Our Ideas

• Toxic Thinking:  
• I'm a dime a dozen. This ideas isn't original enough.  Somebody has already had this thought.  
• Who do I think I am?  I'm a nobody.  I don't have the experience or impressive resume that people are looking for.  I'll never get there.  
• I don't have any outside connections.
• I'm not good enough
• Seeing the whole process at once instead of breaking it up into easier steps. This can be a sure way to get overwhelmed and feel like your idea is too daunting.  
• Letting naysayers have too much power over us.  There will always be those people out there in our life that will try to bring us down or say something to minimize our ideas or put our fire out.  We don't have control over what these people think and we can't make them believe in us but we do hold the power to not let what they think get us off track.  
• We lack the resources or connections.  Making an idea work can involve a lot of time, money, and hard work.  It also usually involves getting connected with the right people who can help take your idea one step further.  It is hard to trust that things will come along when the time is right.  
• Feelings of inadequacy and making ourselves feel silly for dreaming big

Original art by Cher Odum 2007

Ways to Cultivate and Nurture Our Seed Ideas and Make Them Reality

• LIve with your ideas--spend time with your ideas and try them on for size!  See how they feel and imagine them playing out in different ways.  This is part of the planning process.
• Write your ideas down!  A great way to keep your ideas all in one place is to keep them in a notebook.  I keep my ideas in my writer's notebook, a place I write lists, book ideas, things I notice in my daily life that could be used as an idea, etc.  I've always used a regular old composition notebook.  As a teacher of writing, I've had my students keep writer's notebooks too.  These notebooks become treasures to all of us.  
• Free write--Write freely about your ideas in stream of consciousness style.  Let your ideas flow!  You can always go back over these notes later but sometimes if we don't write them down, we lose them in all the other clutter taking up our daily thinking.  
• Share your ideas--share your ideas with others and try not to let your vulnerable side keep you from taking your ideas seriously enough to talk about them with confidence.
• Have a sharing partner--have a friend that knows your ideas and that will be there to bounce more ideas off of.  Talk abut your idea often. When in the classroom, I strongly believe in allowing my students to have writing partners to share their ideas with.  This is one of the most powerful forms of rehearsal and prewriting strategies for getting ideas to flow and sparking creative thinking.  
• Believe and Achieve--Believe that your idea is important and unique enough.

Original art by Cher Odum 2007

• Get rid of fear--it only holds you back and clouds your thinking.  Fear changes your energy and instead of opening doors, you are closing them.
• Have confidence--Nobody is going to believe in a product or piece of work that the creator isn't truly confident in.  Put power and confident energy into your work and every day living! Others are attracted to confidence, not to be confused with arrogance.  
• Take yourself seriously--people will take you only as seriously as you take yourself.
• Set lofty goals--No dream is too big.  Stop seeing things as "too big for me" or "that can't work out for someone like me".  Instead, see yourself as capable and strong enough to make things happen!
• Don't be afraid to change direction--ideas don't always stay the same throughout the entire process.  They can change, lead to other things, or take longer to grow than we might expect.  
• Be patient!  Growing ideas takes time.  

Original art by Cher Odum 2007

What ideas are you sitting on?  Go make them happen!