Imagine you are sitting with a group of people and someone presents a new idea. What is the first thing that you tell yourself when you hear it? Here are a couple of ways that it could go: “That is a really cool idea, tell me more about it.” or “That idea is crazy. It will never work.” Which of those things do you tell yourself when you hear the idea?
Obviously there are many factors that could impact your answer. Let’s look at a few of these factors.
- How much do you know about the topic? If you know a lot about the topic, you may have stronger feelings about whether the idea will work or not.
- How strong is your relationship with the person who brought up the idea? If you trust and have a good relationship with the person who raised the idea you are more open to give them the benefit of the doubt and not push back on them.
- How credible is the person? Has the person had good ideas before? There is a tendency to look at the success or failure of history as a predictor of the future.
- How optimistic or pessimistic are you in general? If you are strongly optimistic than you will generally give the idea a chance and be open to thinking about it. Pessimistic people have a tendency to immediately judge things and assume they won’t work. They will usually come around to a new idea, but it may take more conversations to convince them.
- You may wish that you could have come up with the idea first. There are some people that are just really creative and good at coming up with ideas. Everyone has their strengths and this may be their unique strength. Your strength may be to execute and make the ideas a reality. These two strengths need to come together in partnership to make something happen. Otherwise it is just an idea that doesn’t go anywhere.
Take the time to evaluate ideas when they are brought up to you and try not to put them down immediately. Looking at some of the factors above could be influencing your thoughts and how you perceive success or failure. Take the time to reflect on what your thoughts are and why you are thinking that way before you make a snap judgment. You never know what new idea could turn into something great. It could expand your perspective and your thinking to drive a new product, a new service or change something that is average into something amazing. It could lead to something that is great for you if you take the time to listen and be open.
