What Makes An Idea Great or Fail

Every great product, every great invention, every great comfort, every great policy, every great solution to a problem, that man has associated himself with, has taken it's birth from a figment of his imagination. 'Ideas', as we know it, has often been that point of intersection of Philosophy and Science, interest and passion, Love and War, and at times, Luck and hard-work. People become famous or infamous based on their ideas. Everyone of us has ideas but what is it about an idea that makes 'Great'? Do ideas get created by accidents of is it a the fruit of a well planned course of action and hardwork? How can one go about mastering the thought process of idea-ting?

Here, I will just list a few Do's and Dont's that I feel are the reasons for the success or failure of an IDEA. I don't intent to talk about the 'Tipping point' for ideas as I guess Malcolm Gladwell has already done that with pretty convincing facts. But what i would like to highlight here is our attitude towards ideas. I may miss out a lot of points here because,let me be honest, I promised a friend that I would blog tonight. Nevertheless, these words are right from my ever idea-ting mind.

OK!! Lets get started!!!!

1. Feed the philosopher in you



Give philosophy it's due respect. Engage in conversations regarding philosophy. After all, it's philosophy that is responsible for almost everything around us. Even the clothes we were is a result of some great philosophical thinking. Philosophy often deals with asking questions and justifying beliefs. If you ask me, I feel philosophy is what drives science to come out with explanations. And when you start questioning things, you often tune your mind to an alternate thinking which my friend, is the ignition to a idea-ting mind. So give it your full respect.




2. Stay away from addiction



Try not to get addicted to anything. this includes drugs, alcohol, electronic gadgets and even work. An article, Why I returned my Ipad, that I read in the Harvard biz review might give you a better idea



3. Never share you idea while it's at its natal stage



try not to talk about your idea to anyone when you have just thought about it. There is a high chance that it might get killed before it takes shape.Derek Sivers seems to have a valid explanation for it when he talk about Keep your golas to yourselves here



4. Do not sell an Idea if you don't believe in it



This is definitely a no-no as you might just end up killing a good idea that you failed to understand



5. Don't waste time



Start working on your idea right from the time of inception. This is very critical as the world has reached a state where Time-To-market takes priority and if you wait, you will be late.



6. Invest in a hobby, passion or recreation



Dont be addicted to one thing. By this I also mean that one must never get addicted to his or her idea. take your mind of and explore various other avenues. They are perfect boosters for generating more ideas



7. Good Company



Maintain a group of enthusiastic buddies. Refrain from spending too much time with pessimists and hypocrites. People have a great influence on your ideating process. So choose your company cautiously. Encourage criticism but ignore pessimism.



8. Never Under-estimate an Idea



This is an all important rule. develop an attitude where you appreciate ideas. Any idea, good or bad, is still and idea.Try to make an idea better instead of killing a few before they are born.



9. And the most important one, Never stop idea-ting

Why are we like this?

It was 5:30 in the evening on a rather sunny Bangalore sunday. I was watching the news on the TV. The usual stuff, politics, sports scandals etc. Suddenly I heard the phone ring. My friend,lets call him Murthy, asked me if I was free to meet up. Well I was bored all day so I was more that relieved to meet someone. Once we met, we discussed various stuff ranging sports to politics. And the moment we discussed politics and good governance, Murthy got a bit cynical. He kept on cursing the system. I told him that it would take sometime for things to change but he would not listen. I asked him for ideas to make things better but he didn't seem to care too much.I gave him concrete examples of how things are changing and how life is becoming better than what it used to be. I tried to convince him that things aren't that bad but he kept comparing our state to that of the the western powers. In the end, It turned out to be an inconclusive argument.

The other day I was sitting at home when I heard my mom, dad and Uncle talk about some topic related to how kids behave these days. They went on to say that kids who don't respect their parents are gonna suffer. They discussed their feeling about how children these days disobey their parents. I partly agreed with them considering the fact that lots a kids need some discipline and should learn how to talk to elders.But the went on to say that today's kids are useless and don't use their head. And are spoiling their future. They said that kids these days want bikes and cars and pocket money to enjoy. And yes, they came up with dialogues like "I bought a cycle when I was 26" etc etc. They went on say that technology is spoiling us further and that it has done more harm that good. Kids spend a lotta time on the computer and watching TV. They predicted that the same technology would kill us and that and that kids should spend more time thinking about how to earn more money for that family. I popped in and said that its wrong to only look at the negative aspects of today's technology and one must acknowledge and admire the boon in it. If it wasn't for technology, kids would not be able to talk to people who are thousands of miles away using the web chat. Kids can now book train tickets for their parents using a technology know as the internet. I argued giving many more examples saying that kids have become smarter with the advent of technology and kids are becoming more independent and that they must be encouraged. But, the elders again didn't care a damn and told me that I was too young and haven't seen the world. They could not give me any solid reason but did not consider my comments too.

It's a hot weekday. All of us are slogging trying to give our best at work. Finally we decide to give ourselves a break and head out to that balcony to have a cup of coffee. We relax in the shade and then someone pops up an argument. They say that the company is not good and it does not cater to the need of the employees. I ask them why they felt so. They said they don't pay us well. They went on to compare the company to the likes of google and they other biggies. I had a simple a question. Do we do work that deserves a paycheck of google standards? They were not ready to accept my argument. I asked them what they thought was needed to be done by the company to change its employees fortunes. And i didnt get one solution. They went on to say that I should not work very hard and should rather go home early and not work late as i usually do. I argued that at one end you guys wanna work less and go home early and on the other end you wanna big paycheck. They just smiled and said yes. I've been in several conversations with them and not once have they said that they like the company and are proud to be a part of it. They to compare the company with ones that are not even in the same segment as that of ours. When I bring out fact and figures they just shun it away and behave as if what they say is final and what the truth is doesn't matter. I mean give it a min and think about what you said.

There are many such examples that we come across in our day to day lives. Why have we become so cynical? Are we really living in such horrible times? Cant we admire any thing in life. Cant we take up responsibility to change things. why is the problem always someone else's problem. Have we turned blind to all the good things in life. Even the media always highlights the negative news and hardly considers publicizing the positive. Why do we complain so much? Why do we add to the problem rather than being a part of the solution? Do facts and figures not make any sense to us? Why do we influence people with negative thoughts though there is no basis to our argument? Why do we do this? Just to convince ourselves? When will we change? When will we contribute to the society. When will we start to encourage natural true talent? We don't care if we are right or wrong but we try our best to demotivate the and prove others wrong. When will this change? Will we ever become wise?