Quote-A-Day: Day 352

An idea can only become great when it is no longer "your" idea. #QuoteADay #Day352 #edchat #edu #satchat #NYedchat #Collaborate

I’ve never had a great idea in my life. 

I know what you’re thinking . . . surely you have.

But I haven’t.

Ideas are never great when we have them, and they are never great when they are “our” ideas.

Ideas can only become great when they are no longer our property because the “greatness” of an idea is tied to how it is vetted and how it makes the world at large better.

This is an important idea because once we stop worrying about whether our ideas are good or not, we also stop worrying about what others will think about them when we share them.

We also stop worrying about getting credit for the idea, and we start focusing on what the idea could (or could not) be really capable of doing.

Since an idea is nothing until someone acts on it, the freer we are with our thinking, the more ideas we’ll throw on the table.  And the less concerned we are with how they’re taken, the greater the chance that an idea will have a tremendous impact (simply because we’re offering up so many)!

As learners and leaders we need to be comfortable letting ideas go.  If they fly, great.  If they fall, that’s great too.

We need to remember that nobody ever has a great idea.  Great ideas are only formed when we share them with others and work together to make them better.