There Are No Useless Ideas.
- August 18th, 2009
- By Cain
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Ideas are funny things. They’re so common, so natural, so forgettable, that we often lose sight of just how large of an impact they can have.
I sometimes find myself thinking that I’ve just managed to come up with a great idea, be it a possible business venture, ingenious invention, or intriguing blog post — and 2 hours later, look back and wonder why I actually thought something like that would work. The more time you have to critique and scrutinize an idea, the more likely you are to do so. After hours of assessment, what once seemed like a good idea often becomes more of a joke.
This is a good thing. This is also a bad thing.
Ideas NEED to be criticized — ideas live off of criticism and judgment. This is true for ideas in science, philosophy, politics, sports … you name it. There is no perfect idea. The greatest ideas are those that can withstand these evaluations and still be convincing. Sometimes ideas really are just bad ideas. Even then — just because an idea doesn’t appear to survive this analysis and can’t be categorized as a “good idea” doesn’t mean that it can’t have an impact on someone’s life.
Yesterday, while driving home from work, I remembered an idea some friends and I had in high school. I’ll call it Idea X. Many people might think of Idea X as a silly thing, attributed to the naivete of adolescence. Regardless, I found myself thinking that Idea X quite possibly was one of the most defining moments throughout my days in high school.
High school was a lot of things. Friends. Homework. Late nights. Projects. IDP. Crushes. Grades. Dances. Experimentation. The list goes on.
Idea X, however, is something that I always find interwoven with memories of high school. Not only that, I find that Idea X is still active in my mind today, a constant reminder of just how powerful and effective ideas can become. The other things were important, sure, but sometimes not as influential: I don’t talk to a lot of friends from high school anymore. I’d probably have trouble with simple algebra. I could care less about the grades I earned in high school, or the projects I worked on. High school romance, in hindsight, makes me laugh at just how silly and trivial it really is.
But not Idea X. It came about almost casually. We went through with it. And sure, maybe it didn’t leave too large of an impact on the world. But quite frankly, it made a HUGE impact in mine. I’m certain the people involved with Idea X don’t realize this. Which is why, when driving home, it finally hit me. We’ve all had ideas come and go. We’ve all said things, heard things, seen things, without giving a damn. But if Idea X could have impacted me as much as it did, when conventional wisdom would likely argue that it shouldn’t have, then how have the things I’ve done throughout my life made an impact on others?
Good ideas can lead to bad decisions. Horrible ideas can catalyze innovation. You never know how an idea will end up affecting someone. Think about that. Something you say casually to a friend and forget 20 minutes later could have consequences (positive or negative) that you never imagined.
So there will always be good ideas, and there will always be bad ideas. But there will never be a useless idea.
