Life is Short. No Time to Invest in Average Ideas

That is why your ‘start filter’ is critical: what idea gets the privilege of accessing your time, energy and resources? In energy management, just as in time management, the filter only you can control is what will maximise your returns on your energy and emotional commitment in whatever endeavours you embark on.

Making that first step onto the starting line is an easy, but fundamental milestone.

What a lot of people have trouble with is mustering up enough desire and energy to actually finish what they started, especially when the going gets tough.

Ideas vs The Right Ideas for You

Many people become obsessed with a “great idea”. The world is not short of great ideas; they happen every second in every corner of the planet, and are rarely unique. Great execution, however, is rare. What the world is short of is the right people seizing the right ideas for them, at the right time, and for the right reasons.

Which Idea?

Because it’s almost certain that your idea already exists, holding on tightly to ideas these days for fear that someone might steal them is outdated. Despite that, being committed to an idea before you’ve had a chance to allow it to breathe, and to compete with other ideas in your mind, is a rash risk that people trying to launch initiatives often take. Thatʼs why it’s important to create a personal ‘start filter’ to help you decide what ideas in your life ultimately earn the privilege of graduating from idea to action.

Occasionally it works: you slide into the race, your gut was right, and you end up creating something incredible that everybody loves. But more often than not it doesnʼt work: you shot out the gates with a half-baked idea that probably wasnʼt great in the first place, you undercooked it’s execution, and worse than that, as you are developing it you come up with better ideas that you now cannot pursue.

Determining the short list of all the possible things you could do are decisions that relate to the personal vision of your life, the purpose you wish to fulfil, and the major milestones you have set for yourself in the next one, three or even ten years.

Five things to consider in a start filter

1. Your Values
Does this project or idea truly align with your core values and personal vision, or do you have alternative motives?

2. Your Motives
What are they really: money, fame, boredom? You want to be sure that you do things based on drivers that will last the test of time. Is this idea just a reaction to a temporary feeling that might fade in a few months or years?

3. Your Time
Is this going to be “all in” or a part-time commitment? Exactly how much of your time can you commit, and exactly when will you schedule that time to ensure you can deliver? What do you need to stop doing or step back from to free up time? If you are going “all in”, how will you phase in from whatever you are doing now?

4. Your Appetite
How much risk can you take? With any new adventure you may be risking time, energy, emotion, reputation, and money. What is your tolerance right now, financially and socially? Do you feel confident to take a big leap, or are you just coming off the back of a series of defeats and need a breather?

5. Your Aspirations
Lastly, how big your dreams are has a direct correlation to the types of things you should take on. Are you looking to make a dent in the universe, or just notch up a small win?

Over time, what you choose not to start is probably more important than what you choose to start. Create, refine and use your start filter to help you decide from all the possible things you could spend your valuable time on, stay true to your core values, and let the winners rise to the top.

~Copy pasted from internet and forgot the Author's Name and Links~