URBAN SAMURAI

“Vision without execution is hallucination.” Thomas Edison

I worked with a guy a few years ago, that was an ‘idea guy.’ Give him an hour and ten inventive ideas would come out. This guy had more creativity and vision in his pinky than most of us have throughout our bodies. We would see a new product on TV, and he would show me documentation that he had that exact idea, for that exact product, years earlier. Cool movie ideas, cool marketing campaign ideas, cool anything, this guy had thought of it first. And he really did. I watched him. He wasn’t making it up.  

I was awestruck at first. After a little while, it only made me sad for him. Who wants to be the person that has all the ideas, but doesn’t have the stuff to step up and execute them?

Do you know how many people have ideas? Every drone on a dank subway car has one. If you don’t do anything with it, your great idea is equally as amazing as your afternoon yawn.

Ideas are easy. There is no sweat. There is no blood. There is no risk. There is no brink of failure. There is no self doubt. There is no threat of bankruptcy. There are no sleepless nights. No frantic decisions. No steps backwards. No starting over from scratch, with nothing. There are few critics. No people coming to try take what you’ve built.

All those things come with the execution of the idea. For success in anything, the idea, in and of itself, means very little. Without great execution, no idea looks that great. And with great execution, even a mediocre idea can light the world on fire.

And with the successful execution of a great idea, comes glory, the kind not found anywhere else. A sense of self worth, that couldn’t reach this level through anything else. Core-touching satisfaction. Public recognition. Potential financial reward. Your dreams…realized.

I’d rather spill some blood and risk it all in an effort to get those things, than to bury my ideas inside and watch someone else execute them, then say ‘that could have been me.’

Never again be the person who ‘had that idea.’ Never again watch your product or service be mass marketing or franchised or mass produced  by someone else. It may take a lot of effort and time and resources, but all those combined don’t equal the cost of disappointment and regret you feel for not acting on a correct impulse.

You have a great idea for a book? Then write it. You have a great idea for a product? Then make it. You have a great idea for a business? Then start it.

If you don’t execute your ideas, they are nothing. They are less than nothing. They are wasted thoughts.  

It’s not to say to rush in and make rash decisions. Don’t expend all these resources, time and money, on a whim. But don’t over think it either. As General George Patton said, “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week.”

If you have the inclination, prepare, research, start doing it.