This GE commercial (below) about an abandoned idea evoked strong emotion in me. I was angry and sad. I hate having an idea and not being able to use it but I would never abandon it. Where is this ideas parents? I mean, really, who creates this idea and just abandons it? I was mad and wanted to hunt the Idea Parents down and lecture them about Idea Care.
What would I tell the parents of this idea?
Don’t get rid of that idea!
All ideas are valuable.
Ideas are creative unctions which push life and society forward. Ideas are God’s way of saying, “Get busy and make things better”. There are no such thing as bad ideas just ideas who don’t have the right conditions to thrive.
It may be the wrong place for that idea.
You may change locations and that idea will work perfectly. As a youth pastor, it depends on the culture of students as to whether an idea will fly. One group loves retreat, one hates them. Five years into my current church I have done a retreat in it’s traditional form but I keep all my ideas because I may use it somewhere else.
It may be the wrong time for that idea.
The time may come where that idea is useful. Time passes and each class of kids I move on make room for kids who have different ideas. I may have to graduate 2-3 classes before an ideas can be received.
It may be that you have some groundwork to do.
While I am am graduating kids I am teaching, preaching, and building relationships. Until I can bring my ideas to fruition I am spreading, what Seth Godin calls, The Idea Virus. While I am waiting, I’m sowing seeds of Kingdom potential that one day will sprout. I must always remember, some sow, some water, but God brings the growth (I Cor 3:6)
It may be that the idea needs tweaking.
Take the idea and run it through some different filters. Look at it from different angles. Your idea may be waiting to be used in a way you had not intended it.
It may be this idea isn’t for you, it’s for passing on.
I am an idea hoarder. My Evernote is bursting with them. They are my babies, but I won’t be able to use every idea I have in my current location and I may never find a good time to use it. It may be that I have this idea in my pocket to share with someone who needs it. My YouTube channel is another vehicle for delivering ideas that I may not get a chance to use but I pass them on people for whom my idea is just what they needed.
Your Turn
Where do you keep your ideas?
What idea are you working on and which of the above statements describes it?
If you can’t use that idea, who around you can you pass it on to?