EDISON WOULD UNDERSTAND
Friday, June 4, 2021
Every new thing leads to another thing. Whether that’s the great conversation we had about life on a street corner with a stranger, the person on the next blanket on a beach or the reaction we got to the big presentation we made to our team – the euphoria, zing, or stunned/disheartened feeling in that moment, leads to what comes next.
What comes next is so essential. But, it gets little recognition.
At that moment after, we are either riding the rocket of euphoria or diving for cover – but we don’t get analytical, do we?
Being shot down or shut down doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad idea. It might be the next light-bulb, miracle drug, or internet sensation. Maybe it’s nearly there, or wrong-headed, or the pitch needs to be improved. We rarely examine success the way we do failures, but both deserve dissecting to determine what worked best, what failed to hit the mark and what first-try or first-draft we should toss aside entirely.
Ideas, projects, and teams need a gestation period – but not all take nine months. Or nine months plus twenty years!
I had an idea.
Then I had another.
I talked with someone about the idea – they dumped all over it. OK, not all, but it wasn’t proactive or supportive – but hey, aren’t we on the same team?
What comes next is always more important than what just happened.
Great ideas don’t miraculously erupt in a single moment of creation. Edison took nearly 1,000 tries till he got the first marketable lightbulb right – and we know many improvements followed.
What idea gets you excited?
What vision of the world nobody else sees or agrees with do you see?
Don’t give up, please – your great embryonic idea has value. Nurture it, see how it goes, see how it grows, because nobody knows what comes next.