Shining Armour or Shining Shoes - Never do a Half Job

Ideas are wonderful things. So full of possibilities. So much excitement folded up into a single notion that you can barely express the proper language to express this little bit of genius that just popped into your head.

Some of us claim to be "idea" people, meaning that our strengths lie in seeing the world, not as it is, but rather as it could be. These people are great to be around as they generate so much energy and excitement it lights up the air with electricity.

But an idea without action is a nightmare.

Therein lies the tricky part. The actual implementation of an idea is less perfect. It is gritty. It is filled with traps and failures. It is certainly less exotic.

As an entrepreneur myself I work a lot with other entrepreneurs and the imagination and energy that these people generate is infectious. It is their greatest strength, but, alas, also their greatest weakness.

It's that implementation piece. New stuff is exciting and colourful. Implementation of yesterday's idea is bland and boring. It's full of analysis and hole poking. After all, who likes holes poked in their ideas!

So what's the balance? Can you leverage the strengths of an idea generator with the pragmaticism of an implementer? Quite often you see successful businesses with exactly this type of partnership. After all, somebody has to do the work right?

So this is the beast that ultimately must be tamed. It is tricky, it takes time and it is really more about choosing what NOT to do, than what to do. Sometimes switching that dial from DO to NOT DO is enough. With that comes permission to not chase every shiny thing that comes your way.

It is permission to fail. Most entrepreneurs chase ideas with such enthusiasm because ultimately they are terrified of failure. But failure relative to what?

Given that view, maybe passing on a shiny thing is really the success. Maybe saving your energy for your one true path is a success. You just have to look at it in another way.

So choose your hill. Plant your shiniest thing there inside a seed of potential, and let it grow. Let the rest blow by in the wind.