Inspiration fades. Action Incarnates

Putting these lessons to the test

I pulled a “Columbo” with my supervisor at work the other day. We were wrapping up my weekly coaching session, and I said, “One more thing - I have an idea to file in the back of your mind…” I told her the idea, and she loved it. In fact, she practically demanded that I run with it. She riffed on it. 

The idea checks all the boxes: it meets a huge customer need, it’s an opportunity to boost the company’s bottom line and reputation, and it should be cheap(ish) to execute. If adopted, it could give me a step up within the organization. 

Even having the idea is kind of a victory because it goes so far beyond the 1-to-1 paradigm I’m usually stuck in. You know - “If I do X, the result will be Y.” 

“I can make this leather thing and sell it for money.” Boom. Easy. 

But it’s also small-time.

The alternative, which I haven’t even done badly because I’ve never really tried to do it, is executing a multi-part, multi-dependency project requiring the coordination of several moving pieces. It’s big vision stuff. Most people - including me for, oh, four decades or so - stop at, “I have an idea…” But this work thing is a huge opportunity to actually take something from conception to, well, birth. It’s a test of all the things I’ve theoretically learned in the last several years of struggle.

It’s terrifying. I love it.

It’s an opportunity to punch fear in the face and, let’s be honest here, accelerate the escape from this professional black hole we’re skirting around…

Inspiration fades. Action incarnates.

I read something recently - probably in the never-ending churn of unsolicited advice that is #MoneyTwitter: “Inspiration fades. Action incarnates.”

It’s clunky, but I get it. It resonates. Gary Vee put it another way: “Ideas are shit.” Everyone has ideas. Everyone says, 

• “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” Or;

• “Somebody should…” Or;

• “I wish I…” 

(Or, one of my favorites, “There should be a law…” Whenever I hear someone wish for a law preventing some minor inconvenience I’m sure I’m talking with someone who would eagerly accept an arm band…)

Ideas are everywhere. They’re in the air all around us. There’s a non-stop, high megawatt ghost repeater in your soul re-broadcasting ideas from the aether 24/7. In reality, the biggest problem is capturing an idea before it zips over the horizon and into the soul of someone who will actually take the action to make it happen.

I’ve always thought that everything would be fine as long I still had ideas, even if they came from some other place. When the well ran dry, that’s when I knew I should be worried.

The problem is that the bigger the idea, the greater the vision, the greater the resistance. It can be hard to make that first phone call to just inquire about the first step in the process. The instant you feel the impulse to take that first step, that treasonous part of your soul that wants to kill you and gloat over your corpse begins to list all the reasons the idea is stupid and destined to fail. 

It’s especially hard to act on an idea when your life is otherwise pretty comfortable. If your day job meets all your needs and then some, your house is in good shape, and your marriage is solid, the lure of a million distractions is even stronger. Why take on something else? You’ve earned the rest, after all…

If you haven’t built up your defenses against Resistance, it’ll have you congratulating yourself for your wisdom and prudence in rejecting such a foolish course of action before you even get out of the shower.

That’s been my experience, at least. Maybe confident, self-assured people have a different one.

So what’s the difference between people who act on ideas and those who don’t? Well, action, obviously. People who splorch ideas from the mud, rinse them off, and scrub them to a high polish are the ones who do when others do not. But what is it that inspires them take that action? 

I’ve been pondering this for a long time. What sparks action in others? How do they overcome their fears and the billions of very sensible reasons why such-and-such won’t work? Is it innate? Is it higher IQ? EQ? Praise and affirmation from their spouses? Fathers?

I finally realized that the answer - for me, at least - is, “Who gives a shit?” Stop looking for The Secret. The Secret is right in front of you, as it’s been for me the whole time: just freaking do it. 

Putting it into action

So, today I’m going to pitch this idea to a VP who I have the barest, most tenuous relationship with. My gut reaction is that I’ll probably get an attaboy for coming up with an obvious idea that a committee had rejected ten years ago for having too little a return on the investment. He might just say, “Great idea! Keep ‘em coming!” Or worst of all, maybe he’ll run with the idea and reward me with a coupon for Olive Garden. 

Then again, maybe, just maybe, he’ll say, “That’s a great idea. Let’s talk.” 

The only way to know is to go for it. So, let’s see if this is going to be an anticlimactic denouement of a stupid blog post, or the beginning of something cool. 

Cheers!

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