Your ideas are stupid. Their ideas are stupid, And unfortunately, my ideas are stupid.
At least, they mostly start off that way. Many even stay that way because they were completely stupid ideas. That is not a bad thing as stupid ideas can inspire clever ideas, and clever ideas are smart to have.
But, most are stupid. Accept it.
Some stupid ideas are actually clever ideas in disguise and with investigation, development and refinement can become brilliant. It is part of the process. Some only end up mediocre no matter how much polishing it is given. A mediocre idea can still bring gains and some mediocre ideas can really take off.
Today however we are chasing brilliance. So mediocre is not good enough for us. So why isn't every idea brilliant and why have stupid ideas at all?
Brilliant ideas are rare because to be brilliant it requires a perfect storm of factors to align. These include (among others) timeliness, simplicity, practicality, differentiation and need. It isn't common to have an idea that fits into all of these boxes and have the expertise available to actually get an idea built or implemented.
Ideas come when separate concepts come together to make a new idea. Well, a frankenstein idea. Stupid ideas come when the concepts connect frankenstein parts in a useless combination for example, if toes were attached to fingers and all parts that should be joined to the torso, are sewn onto the head. Can you picture that or would you like me to draw it?
As far as creativity goes, it is a winner but, from a practicality standpoint, stupid. A little refinement though and all of the parts could be connected in the right order and the idea can actually come to life smartly. It's Aliiive!
The other problem is differentiation. Most of us have much more narrow skillsets and knowledge banks than we would like to believe. This means that our Frankenstein apples don't fall far from the mad doctor's tree. Because of this our ideas are much more likely to be closer to the average than a brilliant idea really deserves.
To really have brilliant ideas consistently takes a great deal of bad ideas and development. Most people are looking to only have good ideas. That is stupid. Look to have many ideas, throw those ideas around, sort them out, collaborate and see which ones are cream and which is swamp water.
Now, some people have somewhat clever ideas but don't have the skill set to implement them. That is stupid too. Get smart and either develop the skillset to develop the idea or find people to collaborate with. That would be smart.
There is also plenty of support for stupid ideas. Stop it. Supporting mediocrity consistently without development is only going to lead to more mediocrity. That is stupid. Rather, get creative yourself and spend some time helping stupid ideas develop into good ideas. This means investing yourself into something. This is smart as being part of good ideas brings rewards.
Perhaps, someone with a semi-stupid idea with potential for it to be smart doesn't want to develop it themselves. Well, that is inspiration to build your own project and develop it further. That is smart too.
But, if you aren't the kind of person that is great at developing your own ideas but do have the skills to develop and implement others ideas, be smart and reward the inventor handsomely. As, they may have many more stupid to smart ideas to come and burning them early may cost in the long-run. Thinking long-term is smart.
At the end of the day though, it is is pretty stupid to not support ideas and even stupider to criticise bad ideas without offering improvement. It is smart to encourage ideas however stupid and develop a constant stream of ideas as eventually, by the laws of randomness, one is likely to be brilliant. It only takes one smart idea to change lives.
Now, I have used the words stupid and smart way too much in one text but if you think about it, that may be very smart or, ultimately stupid. Perhaps you read this as stupid but it inspires something smart in you, perhaps it is just stupid.
Many people think they are smart and are able to pick holes in all of the stupid stuff they come across. Often those very smart people are also the ones that with all of their smartness, act stupid by never putting their own smart or stupid ideas forward.
Be smart, don't be stupid. Pretty smart? Likely stupid.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
