I have a plethora of ideas.

Business ideas, creative ideas, wild ideas, and innovative ideas.

I’ve spent a lot of time wondering whether my ideas are good or not.

Should I pursue my idea to create a completely automated fast food franchise? Is door to door advertising the best way to grow business for my project? How long can I go without cleaning my room?

Do I even have a good idea?

I get stressed.

And then I had a breakthrough.

Instead of intensely focusing on having a good idea, I needed to trust.

Trust doesn’t mean that you trust that you won’t screw up– it means you trust you even when you do screw up. This principle is thoroughly discussed in the book “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” by Susan Jeffers. Grow confidence in your ability to handle the consequences of a good or bad idea.

You win because you’re spending less time worrying, which is no fun, and more time learning from both what went well and what didn’t.

I have a spoiler.

There is no good idea. And by that I mean there is no perfect idea.

Do not fall for the illusion that by having a good idea you are preventing errors. Or that you won’t have errors to fix. The truth is the cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. In the case of ideas, the cost to prevent errors is often a missed opportunity. People are so afraid they don’t have a good idea so they don’t take action.

You win when you choose to do things that stretch you. And often that can be in the form of a failed idea.

The idea is important but it’s not the most important.

You are more important

Give a good idea to a mediocre team and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the team right the chances are they’ll get the idea right.

You win when you are the best you possible. Become accepting of the fact that not all ideas are going to work. Be open to the potential lessons learned from ideas that didn’t work. Grow in resilience from failed ideas to face the next idea.