Want to achieve more from your ideas? Remove one word from your thinking

Taking an idea and making it into a success, requires thought, dedication and decisive action. 

But when thoughts get in the way of action, it can hamper progress or worse still, kill off a perfectly good idea before it has been given a chance to blossom and bear fruit.

In this article, we uncover the one word that causes so may good ideas to fail and look at how changing that word can help you to achieve greater success.

Your very own packet of seeds

Good ideas are born out of your imagination and your creativity. 

In a way, your ideas are like little packets of seeds. During your life, those seeds come to you from time to time in various quantities and in different varieties. Each one of those seeds can be planted, nurtured, fed and developed into something that provides you and others with a harvest. In turn, that harvest provides you with the fuel and the new seeds from which you can create new things.

However, if you take those seeds for granted and fail to plant them, or plant them and subsequently neglect them, then your ideas are unlikely to reach their full potential.

The question is, what stops us from planting or nurturing our ideas in the first place?

How thoughts get in the way of perfectly good ideas

For an idea to grow and flourish, it needs an effective plan. 

It needs a plan, to plant or move that seed of an idea from a thought into action. A plan on how to feed the idea. A plan on how to nurture the idea. A plan on how to give the idea the space it needs to grow. A plan on how to give the idea a strong foundation to take it from seed, to seedling, to plant, to blossom, to fruit bearing tree.

But once we have an idea, further thinking can often get in the way of it germinating and growing. And that thinking often comes in the form of one particular word.

The one word that always gets in the way of ideas

Picture this.

You have an idea. You want to move it forward. All that it needs is action.

Taking each of the three steps of action below in order, will allow you pick and enjoy the fruit of your idea after the third step.

But now picture this.

You have an idea. You want to move it forward. But before taking the first step you say ‘If I check my email first, I can start then’. Or you say ‘If I get the shopping done now, I can start it later’. Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, the word ‘if’ can be a constant thorn in the side of all of your perfectly good ideas.

When the word ‘if’ is combined with other words like ‘If only I could….’, ‘If I had more time to….’, ‘If I didn’t have to do this as well then….’, it can be an even sharper thorn, taking all life out of your ideas.

When habits of thinking sabotage your ideas

The real problem with the word ‘if‘ is that it sucks all of the life out of opportunity.

If you move an idea into action, it allows you to grasp an opportunity and develop it into something meaningful. But if you keep allowing the word ‘if’ to get in the way of action, then  you never allow yourself to seize the moment and make the most of your opportunities.

Unfortunately, the word ‘if’ can become so ingrained into your thinking, particularly at times when you are suffering from any type of personal or career related problems and your confidence is low. So it is important to recognise when ‘if‘ is creeping into your thinking, so that you don’t allow it to sap your creative energy as you recover from a setback.

The false friend

The word ‘if’ can sometimes seem like a friend, because it provides you with an alibi or excuse for not having to take action. The alternative that ‘if‘ offers up to us of shopping, browsing social media, or other distraction can often seem more appealing than having to take the slow steps of getting an idea off the ground. This is particularly the case in a world when these alternatives are available at the click of a button.

When we suffer a personal or career setback, it can be easy to question ourselves and our abilities and hide behind things that feel more comfortable to us, rather than taking the difficult steps of building up the strength and resilience needed to make a full recovery.

But the hard reality is that the more you allow the word ‘if‘ to dominate your thinking, the more you deny yourself the opportunity to recover and take positive and decisive steps to developing your ideas & achieving your goals.

How often do you play the ‘if’ lottery?

Overcoming difficult times in our lives and careers often makes us stop to contemplate ‘if only life were easier….’. Thoughts can turn to winning the lottery. The dream home. The dream lifestyle that might buy.

The problem with ‘if‘ thinking is that it is all an illusion. Yes you might win big on the lottery, but your chances are minuscule. And the more time that you allow your thinking to be dragged along by ‘what ifs’, the more time you spend living in that illusion.

But just think, if you stopped thinking ‘if’ so much, you could actually dedicate more time to planning and taking decisive action towards developing your ideas into positive plans that would bring you far closer towards your goals and dreams.

Always remember the consequences

Ultimately, the person who has to bear the consequences of ‘if’ dominating thought patterns is going to be you and it’s better to realise that sooner, rather than later.

If you allow it to run wild once it has ruined one idea, the word ‘if’ will simply escape, hide and come back another day when it sees another great idea that it is ready to sabotage. However, once you are aware of how sneaky ‘if’ is, it gives you the opportunity to stop it in its tracks and weed it out of your thinking for good.

Remember, the word ‘if‘ not only provides you with an excuse for why you haven’t developed your ideas – it will always delay action, because ‘if’ constantly gets in the way of progress.

How to get your ideas moving again

So the real trick here is to change the very unhelpful ‘if’ to a much more helpful and constructive ‘action‘. Imagine you’re on a film set, the clapperboard comes down and you just act your scene. It doesn’t matter if you fluff your lines. You can re-shoot the scene if necessary and then move on!

And, if you reach a mental block on how to progress one of your ideas, give yourself the space and time to think ‘how can I take this idea forward positively and what is my immediate next practical step necessary to achieve that’.

By visualising where you are right now and knowing where you want to get to, the path to achieving your goal will become clearer and much more achievable. Take decisive action and constructively think through any problems and obstacles, seeking the help of others where necessary.

‘If‘ makes your ‘action‘ muscle flabby – don’t let it!

Can you really afford to throw all your ideas down the drain?

Every idea that you have, no matter how small or how insignificant you think it is, is ultimately capable of bearing fruit that can benefit not only you, but people from all corners of the world. The responsibility for planting, nurturing and developing your ideas and providing them with the right conditions in which they can flourish ultimately boils down to you. What you reap depends on what you sow and what you actually manage to grow will depend on the quality of your thoughts and the actions that flow from them.

If you allow ‘if’ to stop you from planting the seeds of your ideas, or you use ‘if’ as an excuse for not progressing your ideas, then unfortunately, you are going to end up throwing most of your seeds down the drain. But the good news is, that if you stop and become aware of how your thinking affects your ability to take your ideas from seed to fruit, you will give yourself the opportunity to develop the confidence to get the most from your ideas in a more practical and natural way.

Moreover, when you start to appreciate that positive action can change your life for good, it will allow you to develop the knowledge and understanding which will free your mind to help others to get the most from their ideas too – and ultimately, a world where we all strive to help and look out for each other just that little bit more can’t be too shabby a place to live.