We attach such importance to our ideas and suggestions without realizing that without any tests we really don’t know if they have any value. Or if they are supposed to help a situation or solve a problem an idea’s value can never be seen until the work is complete.
You see ideas, when they are first stated or created have ZERO value.
They mean very little.
Value can only be seen after the fact and not before. Especially when it comes to our thoughts and beliefs. Life always demands tests and time to determine value. Life excels at objectivity. It never picks sides nor does it ever explains why it chose what it did as our lives unfold.
When we first think of an idea we rush to share it with others. This becomes a good first step to seeing if it might have value. Their affirmation does not reveal an idea’s value but rather affirms that it might have value.
Often I hear at meetings where people strongly suggest that a or b be done as if their suggestion has explicit value. Only then to find the originator silenced and absent when others find out that things did not work out the way they planned.
We are all guilty of falling in love with our thoughts, beliefs, and ideas. It’s very hard to step back to understand that they are too new and untested to know if they have value. That is why groups can be so effective and validating ideas as to their perceived or potential value. When there is open discussion and honest criticism.
That is why starting a business is so hard. An idea to make money sounds great but when implemented things are never as simple as we first thought.
Ideas make us jump to the end or conclusion. Before we make this mistake we need to stop ourselves from celebrating to find ways to test and develop ideas so that they gain enough form and substance to someday having the potential to be of value.