Why your idea is precious

Sometimes, an idea sprouts from nowhere. You are working on something that is occupying your head. You have reached a point where you are looking for a breakthrough. You are deliberate about finding the breakthrough but you see no opening. You just let it simmer.

Suddenly, like a flash, you get an idea. It could be on the next day, in the next week, in the middle of the bath or while driving. Like a bolt of lightning, it strikes you – that breakthrough you have been looking for.

In my case, I get a lot of such ideas around 7 AM. I have observed this as a trend. Not that I don’t get ideas at any other time of the day but I have noticed that around 7 AM, a small gate opens and I get my trickle of fresh ideas.

The idea could relate to a breakthrough that I have been looking for in a coaching conversation, an idea to resurrect a process in my work in the social sector, a new thought for an article or a new Quote. Some of these ideas visit me from the back and beyond – something I must have done in the early part of my life comes rushing to me as a relevant idea in the current context.

I have a habit of recording the idea quickly. Earlier, I had several small spiral notebooks with pens strewn all around the house. I kept one by my bedside. I always had one in my shirt pocket. I would quickly grab the spiral notebook and write down the idea to process it later, at leisure. Nowadays, I am, at the most, about 3 feet away from my phone and I quickly go into Google Keep and type it out.

I have always had great respect for my ideas. I have not really bothered about what others think of them. In my view, ideas come from a deeply personal space and it is not appropriate for me to ascribe value to the idea based on what others think about it. My idea is not participating in a popularity contest.

I have also realized that the more I respect my own ideas, the more the Universe is generous in offering me new ones. There is no science to prove it. It is just what I believe in.

During my formal and informal coaching sessions with people over the years, I have observed that a lot of people have no value for their own ideas. They have grown up in life thinking that ideas coming from other sources are always better. At work, this notion is mostly hierarchy-driven- ‘my boss’s idea has to be better than mine. My job is to suitably praise the boss and implement his idea’. This notion of hierarchy is transferred to other contexts, as well.

In my view, an idea is like a work of art – a masterpiece. Why is it that we imagine that the boss’s painting has to be better than ours? The irony is that many of us hold this view even before the boss has begun painting.

Your ideas are precious and they come to you from a deeply personal, almost sacred, space. Respect your ideas because there is no one like you in this entire Universe.

Now, isn’t this an idea worth thinking about?

 

How do you begin believing in your own ideas and opinions? I coach people in resurrecting their self-belief and building the confidence to trust themselves. For coaching, contact me at [email protected].