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Why is it so hard to focus on one idea? why is it absolutely necessary no matter how creative you are. Some people keep secret of their ideas and don't even want to talk to their investors. Here are some explanations.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. Bad ones are free. There are so many ideas you must focus. Ideas can be about a business model, a tool, a function of a tool, a feature of a tool, a feature of a function, etc. Ideas can be about a problem or a solution. There are too many ideas.
Business is a game of specialization. The winner takes all.
Multiple talents and skills mean nothing in business.
Business is reward for deep dive.
An idea can be a gazillion different things.
it can be an object or novelty (e.g., a coffee shop with pet store)
it can be attribute of an object (e.g., a PURPLE shirt)
it can be a business concept (e.g., a social networking cat hair saloon)
it can be a problem (e.g., some people might want a bike tire that never flattens).
So naturally, there are gazillion different ideas. If you have a lot of ideas and wants to write them down, you can have a collection cabinet for random rocks on a beach.
Sometimes an idea is NEW to you only because you do not know something already exist and was not selling well. Some problems do not have "silver bullet" solutions - even the people you think will benefit will not like it or buy it.
Ideas that you are thinking most likely has come to the mind of others. If you can plot a path from idea to business, do it and the idea is yours.
As you do an idea, you will find others have done or are doing the same idea.
Choose carefully. Choose once.
Failure is the necessary step to success, not something "smart people" can elect out.
Good judgement comes from experience, which mostly comes from bad judgement.
Innovation is the act of renewing the old and reshape the supply chain, thus bringing disruptive value to customers. It is business, and therefore it is fight. Any new entrants face tremendous risk.
Business has no vacuum. You must compete to get in to the market and then win. If you are completely new then you must access the customers and win their approval. It is like proposing to your date and have her say "Yes" - it is risky.
When you lock on one idea, it is very important to prepare, design, plan and execute. Any small business will take a life time to conduct. Never think that you are special and can handle a second task.
So many ideas, and yet only one life. Why focus?
Every little detail on earth has a universe in it. You design a chop stick with a diameter of 2.01 to 1.99 mm. There are one trillion numbers between this window, such as 2.005654343455424mm. Focus, and you find the meaning of your life in a grain of sand. Trust me it is there.
Focus on even the smallest idea and business is a life time of work. Your reward is relation and sense that you are needed. Someone pay you for helping them - how wonderful!! visualize that.
Realizing any idea takes tremendous technical work and even more marketing work. Focus, the road will open. Don't weight the pros and cons.
The first time you act, you are bound to fail. Failure is mandatory, not elective by smart clever thinking. In real world, "success" is knowing all ways that can fail. So go ahead and stop playing chess in your own head. Fail and experience, throw the book away.
There is no perfect thought. Good ideas come when you are building and selling junks. Then it is not an idea, it is an epiphany and serendipity. Let heaven reveal things to you while you do.
Summary
Why people find it hard to focus
What is root cause of "I can not focus" syndrome comes from?
Focusing is hard, why?
Why thinking of many ideas won't bear fruits?
Focusing won't hurt you
Is not focusing harmful?
How to focus and be happy?
The benefits of focus.
How to better capture, design and use ideas?
How to start rolling with an idea?
Why people find it hard to focus?
Top reasons why people DIY make ideas:
wants to make something brand new
wants to solve problems
want to do good, satisfy some needs
to change the world or society and make it better
The overall script of "too much thinking" is due to the following reasons. One of them may fit your case
school education and preaching of "intellectual power"
believing there are endless problems to solve
believing the world needs change and become better or perfect
careful thinking results in perfect opportunities
Someone thinking too many ideas is like a scavenger trying to chance upon something big. Every trip is interesting and unfruitful. It is like a plant, forever flowering but never pollinated. It is a hobby, not a specialty.
Why focusing is actually hard?
Thinking is easy, comforting. Doing is hard, uncomfortable.
Thinking is fun.
The stuff we focus on seems to be small and not worthy of pursuit
We want to have big impact on low budget
We don't want to miss things by throwing ideas away recklessly
Since we don't know how to execute an idea, throwing away an idea is risky.
People don't know how to evaluate and pick ideas.
People don't know how to design top notch ideas rather than "bumping into" ideas
Why random ideas don't bear fruits
Random ideas could be about a number of things, each has its flaw.
It is not about what you want to offer. It is what people care to accept.
A "disruptive big idea" may happen, but unless you pursue it you won't be credited anyways.
The world is a mile deep anywhere you focus on a one-inch opening.
Many "new" ideas are not new or too new. Many problems you want to solve will have no acceptance. People who could benefit won't care about solving the problem. If your idea is realized it is because of relation and trust. No one would "just take it" or "just pay you".
Ideas take resources and scaling and organization to realize. An idea without the leg of business and money will not go far, won't even leave your head.
No matter how great the idea is, a healthy way is to assume that no one cares. When you realize this, you are a business man now. A healthy attitude is to think the idea as a great new species but you personally babysit it and bring it out to the world.
There is not much new needs or new problems. Think about the COVID_19 lock down period. Focus on big problems, big needs, and big industry. Don't try to make a new cell phone case but think of ways to give people ENJOYMENT.
A lot of ideas ordinary people think about is based on low personal resources. You don't have a lot of money or bullet so you come up with ideas that fit this circumstance. In fact, you can have big disruptive ideas and then you will find investors. For example, instead of thinking about new cell phone cases with solar and vibration energy harvesting, think about "making website builder easy". Think about "helping money makers make money".
Healing thoughts about focusing hardship.
There are billions of ideas. Every idea is good. Realizing any idea is hard.
Every idea is hard to realize. Realizing is personal growth and owning it. Realizing anything hard.
Realize that whatever idea you have, it may already have been done. You are not the only person living, and you are not the first person living.
There are actually very few ideas. Many ideas are too early. Most are too late. Out of the ones not too early and not too late, there are only a few you can do yourself.
Real good ideas comes from doing and epiphany in a market place or when really seeing society behavior, not "brainstorm manufacturing" while sitting.
There are way more better and closer ideas in the market and in the trade. If you want to find loose coins on the ground, go to the market.
Until you do the idea, the idea is just a renter in your brain. It is not yours. It just lives there.
Is not focusing harmful?
It is fun to think, but at some point you need to "think while doing". It is more fun.
How to focus?
Build, learn a building skill. Turn your hobby into a persistent drive and your only focus.
Prepare, reconnaissance, study the market, be a professional.
Get into a market. Think there. If you are having countless ideas in your room already, you will have real good ideas constantly.
The benefits of focus:
You will start to find your onliness. You find the meaning of life and meaningful way to engage.
You will start to build relation and new, deeper friendships.
You will have a vision and a mission. You will not take aimless walks. You will have a long walk with fruits promised at the end.
How to capture, choose and evaluate ideas?
The difficult journey of an idea is the execution. No idea is perfect. The execution is the difficult, time consuming, capital consuming part. The key is to choose, and then execute. Steve Jobs throw away a lot of ideas, and then his "best idea" took him years of hardworking to realize. The hard work is not the exception. The hardway is the way, the convoluted way is the way.
Big ideas are seemingly impossible tasks - they involve bending rules and using unfair advantage. "So called good ideas" makes sense and seems feasible - but is entirely based on inexperience, guess, projection, and conjecture.
Steve Jobs "steals" ideas and implement them. He throws away more good ideas than average MIT professor can even DIY. Just so that he an leave only one.
Steve Jobs appreciated the Graphics User Interface concept of Xerox Parc and "stole" the idea and implemented. He was later fired from Apple, build Pixar, built NeXT computers, and came back to Apple to make iMac, ipod, iphone. Jobs is a great idea evaluator and instantly recognize the full potential of an idea, whereas Xerox Parc is a great inventor at Engineering level but the managers fail to see the future.
How do I get rolling?
There is no perfect time to start. If you want to do something, do something. The emphasis is on the word "Do", like in "what you are doing" and "how are you doing?".
Look at the idea hospital to see how to fix an idea.
Why it is crucial to focus on ONE. (Link)
How to design an idea from scratch that suits you? (Link)
Why you are your biggest enemy when it comes to focusing?
You don't need to use your own idea. There are too many ideas. Never keep your idea "secret", it just makes it worse. An idea is truly yours only after you act on it.
Remember, if you know 99 parts of 100, you still knows nothing.
Teensharks.us startup school website.
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