I read a post about ideas by Robert Kyosaki, of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame. He said that, “Money is just an idea.” Many follow up comments sounded like, “Yeah, it’s easy for you to say, Guy who has more money than he needs.” or “Gosh, if money is just an idea, why don’t I have all the money in the world? I’m always thinking about how I need more.”.
I believe that Mr. Kyosaki’s comment is fairly accurate because value can always be created seemingly from thin air. My take is that money, per se, is a measuring stick. Ideas are THE resource. Making or losing money is the sum of the habits we have established in acting on our ideas.
So what is the source of all ideas? Simply put, it’s our brain. Random firings of neurons. How do we increase our ideas and therefore our resources? I propose the following actions:
- Whenever an idea comes, write it down. Don’t evaluate, don’t qualify, don’t do anything but write it down.
- Read frequently from the best books you can find. The quality of our ideas can be no better than the stuff that we put into our brains. If you’re not an advanced reader, start by reading something that is a little more difficult than what you normally take in. If you only watch TV, start by reading the books that movies are based on. It’ll help. I promise.
- As you progress in your reading, write a little bit. Produce more than just bare bones. Flesh them out a little in writing.
- If you dislike writing, draw. If you don’t draw well, draw a lot.
- Go back and re-read the list you made, write down any ideas that flow from that.
MAKE A HABIT OF BREATHING IDEAS: You breath in information and breathe out content.
After you have done this for a while, you will find that you have more ideas than you can act on. At that point, you will also know the sound of your particular voice. Your voice will resonate with a particular group of people like you.
Next Steps:
Make a habit of reaching out
Find out what people are looking for.
I know this works. Two years ago, I decided I wanted to open a T-shirt business. I knew that I needed product to sell. I started writing down every idea that came to me. After two years, I had over 400 shirt ideas and 10 product ideas that I wanted to pursue. Total investment in ideas: $0. Of course it will cost some money to advertise, but you can’t sell and idea you don’t have.
Our brains are the ultimate resource. They create anything we want. That’s what our brains love to do. They love to create. That’s why we’re the dominant species on the planet. We had more mental resources than the next chimp.