Most people start the year with millions of ideas in their minds. Especially after a period of rest.
The idea comes, execution begins, and there’s that excitement.
However, in a short time the idea dies and everything goes back to square one, until another great idea emerges and so it becomes an endless loop.
I confess that it’s quite common for me to fall into this loop.
And for a long time I lived like this: I start a business, get excited, have dozens of meetings, begin execution, and at the first obstacles…
bam: it cools down and dies.
And after falling into loop after loop, I started to question myself: how do I get out of this?
How do I start something that really has a beginning, middle, and end?
This intrigued me so much that I started to dedicate myself to analyzing this problem more calmly.
And talking to other people, I saw that I wasn’t the only one going through this.
And then I thought: how to change? Is there a way to create a method to avoid this?
As an entrepreneur, creating methods is what I enjoy most, and so I’ve created another one.
It works like this: the idea comes, and I do nothing. Yes, it sounds a bit crazy, but that’s exactly it; I wait for the excitement phase of the idea to pass.
And this phase isn’t just one day: I made a deal with myself that for every idea that comes to mind, every business proposal that arises, I wait a month.
If after that time the idea is still viable, then I start thinking about it.
The second point of the deal: when it’s time to start, take at least another month to plan.
That way I already know if it will really work, or if it’s an idea that tends to die. After all, two months have already passed: one of waiting and one of planning.
If the idea passes these two phases, then the chance of success becomes more robust.
I call this the great filter.
Instead of starting 10 or 20 businesses a year, I start 1, maybe 2 at most.
And then it’s easier to stay focused on the long term, avoid distractions along the way, and not fall into the loop: start, get excited, cool down, and die.
I’m still adapting to this method, but I believe it can help some people who, like me, tend to fall into the same problem.
Now tell me: do you also tend to have a flood of ideas that die along the way?
