Check it… and Chuck it

FOCUS – Follow One Course Until Success

Within the last year I've read several insightful and enlightening business books including:

• The One Thing – Gary Keller
• The Slight Edge – Jeff Olson
• The Lean Startup – Eric Ries
• Deep Work – Cal Newport

While all 4 books approach success in different ways, there is one common thread to all of the books above: focus.

What is the one thing that so many inventors and other creatives lack? Yep, focus.Without focus, you will never achieve anything meaningful in life.

“A man who chases two rabbits catches neither.” – Chinese Proverb

Speaking of focus, what is the connection between focus and the title of this blog: Check it… or Chuck it?

Here's the connection. As an inventor, your creative mind is naturally coming up with new ideas every day. Right?

Which idea always looks most enticing? Your newest one.

Which idea seems least enticing to you? The one you have been working on for several months: diagramming and detailing it, working on prototypes, thinking about your patent strategy, and many other tasks you've been working on. That idea is no longer so enticing to you because you've run into several roadblocks or setbacks by now. Right?

When problems occur, we begin to doubt ourselves and question whether we are on the right track. We are quite tempted to chuck it – and move onto another idea or concept that surely doesn't have so many problems or challenges. But, this temptation is a fool's errand: the next idea will also be fraught with challenges, setbacks, and problems – just different ones from your current project.

So, what's an inventor to do?

Here's what you should do. Get rid of all the clutter and temptation of having 5, 10 or 20 different “new” ideas that are continually calling to you – distracting your attention away from that current problem child – that may just be your best invention idea ever.

Commit to spending an hour or two and review the list of all your new ideas. Briefly consider each idea – check it – and critically review its potential. Then simply chuck it (it's a zero) unless it looks like what Lori Greiner calls a hero. Winnow the list down to only 2 or 3 that you see as keepers – ideas that seem to have real potential. Keep those in a Google doc or a spreadsheet where you can access them later when you decide to go after your next idea.

How to effectively winnow the list? Here is a link to a recent post where I describe in detail exactly how to cull your list of ideas.

Here is my final suggestion to you.

Stay with your current idea –  the one that is so frustrating to you.

You are making progress on it and it could be a great product idea – it will just take work – as all inventions do. Only change course if, after careful consideration, one of the ideas in your Check it… and Chuck it list truly looks dramatically better than your current project. That rarely happens.

Good luck and stay tuned.

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