Idea Addiction/Action Plans

My Dad passed on an interesting article from Early to Rise on the dangers of idea addiction. The author gave some tips for taking ideas and turning them into results:

First, at the end of every creative meeting, you need to decide which ideas are “action-worthy” and which are solid projects. Fill up the back-burner shelf, make a list, and save it somewhere. Now you’re ready to focus.

Second, you take the action-worthy ideas and – as a group – clarify and assign every single, relevant “action step” you can think of. Schedules, follow-up meetings, research, design. It all goes here. Culpability is the key. Get names and deadlines on paper.

Third and last, you don’t leave the room without creating or identifying your “reference materials.” That is, you make a list, as a group, of what you’ll need to make a project happen. Then you identify where it will come from. Be thorough when you make this list. Don’t let a worthy project get derailed because you don’t have the materials you need to make it happen.

You can read the entire article here.