Just an Idea?
According to people who study such things, we’ve gone from the Industrial Age to the Information Age and are now entering the Idea Age. Creative thinking, often scorned by left-brained thinkers, is taking on a new importance. Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, says, “Access to talented and creative people is to modern business what access to coal and iron ore was to steel making.”
I am wildly excited about this turn of events because I’ve known about the power of ideas for a long time. Shortly after I started my first business, I came across a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes that became a mantra for me. He said, “A person’s mind stretched to a new idea can never return to its original dimensions.” I could see plenty of evidence of that in my own journey.
It saddens me when people talk about a vision and then dismiss it by saying, “It’s just an idea.” JUST an idea? Think about this: ideas can be…
big
little
crazy
magical
bold
empowering
terrifying
fleeting
life-changing
daunting
abundant
ridiculous
nagging
awakening
potent
trivial
lofty
neglected
startling
far-fetched
on target
provocative
fleeting
brilliant
silly
slow
stuck
elusive
seeds
inspiring
annoying
tenacious
baffling
starved
nurtured
The one thing I know for sure is that the best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. So this is your official invitation to join me for Ideafest! a month of ideas designed to feed your entrepreneurial spirit. If, as Daniel Pink says, the future belongs to right-brainers, we need to be enthusiastic idea-spotters, gatherers and implementers. I hope you’ll stop back daily to add to your idea collection, find inspiration and launch your best year ever.
Buon Anno!
Another Good Idea: If you want to get focused or simply need to acquire a power tool for your Joyfully Jobless Journey, join me for Goalsetting 101, a 90-minute teleclass that will show you a creative approach to setting and achieving goals. The teleclass takes place on Tuesday, January 6, 8-9:30 PM Eastern, 5-6:30 PM Pacific.
Explore More: If you haven’t already done so, read A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink asap.
A person’s mind stretched to a new idea can never return to its original dimensions. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
Tags: Daniel Pink, growing a business, Idea Age, ideas, Richard Florida
8 People have left comments on this post
Might I add:
liberating
astounding
amusing
joyful
stimulating
healing
healthy
awesome!
Oh, Della, those are good ones. As you might guess, I could have kept the list going much longer. Barbara
Hi Barbara, great article. I am being inspired by the ‘muse’ and this article has inspired a page in my Scanner Daybook (per Barbara Sher). Today, I was reading a little newsletter and this statement jumped out at me “Ideas don’t stay in some minds very long because they don’t like solitary confinement.” I’m not sure the source of this statement, but I think that this describes me to a “T”
Janice, Love that quote. I’m going to add it to my Idea Quotes file. If you come across the source, let me know.
Let the record show: At my lovely new blog, The Pragmatic Alternative,http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com, recently noted (12/12/08) by Barbara herself, I am pictured reading Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Joy, Jay
Way cool, Jay.
Hi Barbara, to update you on the quote “Ideas don’t stay in some minds very long because they don’t like solitary confinement.” I’ve googled this quote and found many sites on the web that have used it. In all cases, there was no reference listed as the source.
Take care,
Janice
Thanks, Janice. I’ve been trying to track the source of another quote which seems to be attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Edison. I may never know the truth!
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.