The Ideas We Leave Behind
Don’t let someone's disinterest stop you / Issue 1,438
Oh, hi friends!
I came across a blurb for a book, and a “ping” went off in my brain.
I once had an idea for a book like that…
Their book wasn’t similar enough to inspire envy or “why did they get their first” feelings, but it was enough to airlift my idea back into my little forgetful head.
You see, I dropped the idea because someone once offhandedly expressed smidgens of doubt.
They didn’t say, “Oh Kara, that’s a terrible idea.”
They didn’t say, “You definitely shouldn’t spend time on that.”
Actually, it wasn’t even doubt — it was more like vague disinterest.
This wasn’t for them.
Yet one interaction kicked that idea down to the bottom of my pile.
Why do we do this?
WHY DO WE DO THIS?!
It is very hard for someone else to accurately judge an idea, by the way — it’s just an idea! You haven’t created the thing yet!!!
And yet we want positive reinforcement.
We want to hear “keep going.”
And we unintentionally put so much weight on a quick opinion.
I wonder though…
If you looked at your ideas with fresh eyes, what might you find?
Which idea can you resurrect from someone else’s doubt?
What deserves your attention now?
What will you place at the top of the pile?
Oh! For those wondering, I kept up my 10x10 Experiment over the long weekend!
A few days I cut my runs down to one mile, wrote six pages, and read for *three hours* (spread throughout the day), which felt extremely luxurious and brain-stimulating, and now I want to do this all the time?!
Another big lesson from this experiment is how it provides me with default activities when I’m tempted to veg out with my phone or fret about various things. Instead, I can run, read, or write. Or nap. I napped every day.
Hope you were able to get some rest this weekend and/or a few golden moments for yourself.
Smidgens of doubt can be harmful to emerging ideas. Let’s surround ourselves with people who encourage us to keep on nurturing an idea. Sometimes our friends, family, advisors think that they are being helpful. I’ve been so discouraged when somebody says you’re not qualified to write about that so I stopped. But I’ve chosen to ignore them and explore ideas.. maybe these ideas don’t work out but they at least I feel good about the decision.