Don't Sit on a Great Idea

When you have a creative idea that is a ten out of ten, get it out into the world as fast as humanly possible—because you can bet that someone else in the world just had the same idea as you.

As creatives, we get dozens of ideas. Most are fleeting, average, just okay. We work our creative process knowing that most of our ideas aren’t worth pursuing.

But we pursue these okay ideas anyway because we know that they are the path to the really special ideas.

The ten out of tens.

The ideas that give you a special feeling, like the heavens have either opened up before you or come crashing upon you—or both.

When you find those special ideas, don’t sit on them.

Music producer and lead singer of OneRepublic Ryan Tedder has experience with this.

“I tell artists all the time: if we stumble into a lyric or a song title that's a 10 out of 10, and the song is a 10 out of 10, you better race to get that thing out. Because someone else just came up with the same idea. I've had it happen four times, five times in my career in 20 years, and I've been on the losing end of that equation. Where a month earlier a big artist drops the same titled song, same idea. And then you're cooked.”

We’ve talked here before about the fact that sometimes a creative idea’s time has just come, and if it’s not you, then someone else will bring it to the world.

In his 2013 hit “Counting Stars,” Tedder had used a bunch of “heys” and “hos.” And this was just before the Lumineers came out with their own hit, “Ho Hey.”

“I just find it so bizarre,” Tedder said, “some of the similarities and elements between—whether it was like Avicii, The Lumineers—we were all drinking from the same water supply at that time.”

The world will not wait forever for you to bring your creative ideas forth. If not you, someone else will.

Timing matters.

So when you hit upon a special idea, don’t sit on it. Have a sense of urgency to bring it to fruition and share it with the world.