Follow the Idea

What’s an idea?

Seriously.

What is an idea?

I think an idea is something that’s meant to be explored.

It’s meant to be tested.

It’s meant to be discovered.

We have ideas all the time.

Driving down the road.

Sitting at work.

Talking to somebody.

Seeing something happen and thinking…

Why do we do it that way?

Why does that exist?

Why has everybody just accepted this?

Or maybe…

Could this be better?

And most of the time, we do nothing with it.

The idea comes.

We think about it for a few seconds.

Then we move on with our lives.

And I think we’re missing something when we do that.

Because the problem isn’t that we don’t have enough ideas.

The problem is that we’ve become really good at ignoring them.

And I understand why.

Following an idea is uncomfortable.

Because the moment you actually decide to explore one, you don’t know where it’s going to take you.

You might be wrong.

You might build something that doesn’t work.

You might ask a question that makes people uncomfortable.

You might look ridiculous.

You might spend days working on something only to discover…

this was a terrible idea.

But that’s okay.

Because you discovered something.

And I think that’s where we’ve gotten ideas wrong.

We think every idea has to become something.

A business.

A product.

A movement.

Something successful.

It doesn’t.

Sometimes the value of following an idea is simply discovering what’s on the other side of the question.

Because ideas usually begin with noticing something.

Something doesn’t make sense.

Something could be better.

Someone needs help.

Someone is being overlooked.

A system isn’t working the way we assume it is.

And you notice it.

That’s curiosity.

But curiosity by itself isn’t enough.

Eventually you have to follow it.

You have to ask the question.

Make the phone call.

Build the first version.

Write the first sentence.

Record the video.

Try the thing.

Go see for yourself.

Because that’s when something interesting starts happening.

The more ideas you follow, the better you become at seeing.

You start recognizing patterns.

You start understanding how businesses are built.

How organizations work.

How systems influence people.

Why certain things spread.

Why people behave the way they do.

Why we give certain people status.

Why we believe certain things simply because everyone around us believes them.

You start looking underneath the surface.

And I think that’s one of the most valuable abilities a person can develop.

Not knowing everything.

Seeing.

Seeing something other people haven’t noticed yet.

And then being willing to say:

“Hey…has anybody else noticed this?”

That’s creation to me.

A creator isn’t just somebody with a camera.

A creator isn’t somebody with a million followers.

And a creator isn’t necessarily somebody who makes art.

A creator is someone who sees what is…

and becomes curious about what could be.

And the best ideas eventually stop being about you.

Because somewhere on the other side of that idea is usually a person.

A person with a problem.

A person who needs something.

A person who feels something everyone else has ignored.

A person who doesn’t even know that what you’re imagining could exist yet.

Think about almost everything around us.

Somebody had to question what existed before it.

Somebody had to wonder.

Somebody had to be curious.

And then somebody had to be willing to look stupid long enough to find out.

That’s the part I want us to get back.

I don’t want you to leave here thinking you need some billion-dollar idea.

I don’t want you walking around trying to invent the next massive company.

I want you to become curious again.

Pay attention to the things that make you stop and think.

Pay attention to the questions you can’t seem to shake.

Pay attention when you catch yourself saying:

“There has to be a better way.”

Don’t dismiss that so quickly.

Follow it.

Research it.

Ask somebody about it.

Build something.

Test something.

Write about it.

Talk about it.

And be completely willing to discover that you were wrong.

Because being wrong isn’t the worst outcome.

Never exploring it is.

I don’t know where every idea will lead.

Neither do you.

That’s the point.

You don’t need to know the ending before you’re willing to begin.

And maybe the idea isn’t asking you to become successful.

Maybe it isn’t asking you to become famous.

Maybe it isn’t even asking you to build a business.

Maybe it’s simply asking you…

to pay attention.

And if you pay attention long enough…

you might see something.

If you see something…

you might question something.

If you question something…

you might create something.

And what you create might help someone you haven’t even met yet.

So the next time an idea comes to you…

don’t immediately ask,

“Will this work?”

Ask a different question.

“What might I discover if I follow it?”

And then…

follow the idea.