Take an Idea and Run Away With It

In this day and age of “like” buttons, it’s fairly easy to show appreciation for good ideas. We see them every day in social media and when we like them, we “like” them. And then we move on to appreciate and “like” other things. Here’s the problem, we often end with clicking the like button and nothing else. When that happens, all the good ideas we see do not contribute to our growth. 

Here’s my recommendation. When you see a good idea, pour over it, reflect on it, ask how useful it can be for you and figure out how you can apply it. Allow yourself to be excited enough by the idea to run away with it.  When Steve Jobs went to Xerox’s Palo Alto research center in the 70’s he got excited by a demonstration of  a $300 computer mouse that he pulled all stops to make a $15 mouse for Apple. Read the whole story here to find out how much more ideas Steve Jobs ran away with.

Here's a personal story. Last year, I was invited to talk about social media marketing in one of DTI's public seminars for people who are interested to start a business.  It was pretty uneventful. A few people came. I shared what I know, they asked questions, I answered  and then we're done. I was never invited again. I already forgot all about it. Last week, one of the participants connected with me on Facebook. She told me that she like what she learned from my talk last year, she is now applying it as she starts her peanut butter making and distribution business! You can just imagine my happiness on knowing that the short stint (2 hours) I had with her last year paid off! The message here is this; its not about how much knowledge you gather, it's about how you use the knowledge to pursue your goal or push an agenda.

Here are a couple of questions to get you started. What idea have you read, hear of or thought of that excited you so much lately? What did you do with it?  

Now, here’s an instruction; APPLY IT!