First "Free Sample" Question

Sent on Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 9:46 PM:

Dear D. Mark,

Please help. I am a creative guy and that is my problem. I have so many ideas that I want to implement but not enough time or money to implement them all.

How do I vet out the ideas to determine which one are worth taking to
the next level?

Thanks so much,

Bewildered in CT

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Dear Bewildered,

It is great to hear that you have plenty of ideas! Many people struggle to come up with ideas (or at least ones that they are excited about implementing) so you are lucky that the "faucet of ideas" is turned on for you!

There are a number of ways to "vet out" your ideas and decide which ones are worth taking to the next level.

Potential Value
Some people look at the potential value of each idea and take the one that has the highest potential. This would seem to make sense, but it does not address how the implementation will affect everything else in your life.

Urgency
Everyone has urgent problems and if one of your ideas addresses something urgent, it is tempting to implement it first. While you certainly need to address urgent problems before they become even larger problems, it is important to determine whether the problem is truly urgent or just "urgent because someone else said it was urgent". Many urgent problems, when analyzed a little, are seen as someone else's problem or a problem which will fade away. I assume that you can determine the difference between truly-urgent and urgent-for-someone-else so I will move on to the final key.

Importance
If you have a good sense of value and urgency for each idea, the deciding factor for implementation is each idea's importance towards your life's goals. You probably have a number of goals and a number of ideas in each category which is probably what is making it difficult to decide on a particular idea to implement.

I would suggest doing my Value Discovery Exercise so you have a clear picture of the hierarchy of what is important to you. Decisions are made based on our values and by clearly understanding the order of your values, you will be able to prioritize your ideas and their implementation. The Value Discovery Exercise is also part of my "Vision Development Workshop" which helps participants use their newly identified values to create a strong personal vision for their life. This vision helps keep them focused and on track toward the life they want to achieve.

Additional Resources:
Book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey.

As soon as they are available, I will be sending you out a set of our Value Discovery Cards as a gift for being the first person to submit a Free Sample request using our new website.

Create a Better World !

d.Mark Wheeler
http://www.theworldsmostcreativeperson.com/