What Do You Do When You Have Too Many Ideas?

 I’m sure you’ve experienced the fear of running through an airport, trying to get to your gate in time to make your flight. The sped-up walk-run that we seem to only do inside the corridors of these airports, with the Cinnebon and microbreweries speeding by in our periphery. We finally slow down slightly when we reach our gate, hopefully with the worst

behind us. 

     Arriving at the gate, we gain a sense of calm as we see the airplane through the window, that one vessel being prepped by dozens of workers doing the diligent work of preparing for flight. 

     Now, imagine, if when you showed up at that gate, there were four different planes lined up at the gate. To fit into the tight space, they park oddly and in strange formations. The same group of employees, who would be getting one plane ready for flight instead, are preparing four planes. The scene, as you can imagine, is chaotic. Employees don’t know where to start. Should they schedule food to be delivered to the second plane? Which one should they gas up first? Was the fourth plane cleaned yet, or was that the first one?

     One of the employees looks over to the gate next to them. At that gate, there’s only one plane. At the gate, the agents are calmly checking tickets with a smile. Gazing out of the window, you see the luggage being loaded on, the fuel truck filling the plane and a harmonious rhythm of efficiency. 

     You turn back towards your gate to the utter madness of trying to get four places ready for takeoff at once. This scenario is what I see from so many business owners. Especially the ADHD type- diagnosed or undiagnosed- who have a need to do multiple things at one time. 

     I have so many ideas. More ideas than I know what to do with. If this is hitting home for you, then I imagine that you do as well. But how in the world can you manage it? Why can you have so many ideas but you are running around in chaos, mentally exhausted and not nearly as successful as you know that you could be?

     I came up with an idea recently after launching The Wealth of Connection. I  want to get more of these books out into the world. The more people share the book, the more impact it can have. But how can I get more people to share it? So I came up with this. If someone purchases a bulk order of the book, I will not only sign the books, but I will offer a free one-on-one business coaching session. In The Wealth of Connection, I discuss placing your generous goals over your selfish goals. This is a way of doing that. I get more books out into the world, I get to help a reader personally and with their career, and connections are formed between me and them and new connections with the new readers. It’s a win/win/win- the perfect generous goal. 

     Kyle Martin was one of the first to take me up on it. He read the book, left an amazing review and resonated with the content. We weren’t three minutes into our coaching call when I saw all of the signs. His problem was that he felt “scattershot” as he said. He was all over the place, with so many business ideas and interests all at varying points. During our call, he ran down the list of the four businesses he (and his wife) have been working on. Unfortunately, none of them were related to the other. If they were, it would have been fun to develop out how that could be utilized. 

     But here we were- a confused business owner, four different businesses, not enough time and not enough success. Yet. When I coach, I do an exercise where I break down each business/idea to see where it fits on the journey- either today or years from now. 

     As Kyle broke these down, it was obvious that he was the airline attempting to fly four planes at the same time. The problem is, we can’t see the picture when we’re inside of the frame. When we are in that spot, it all seems doable. We don’t want to delay any of them because, in many ways, they are all on an equal level. And often they are equal in ways we don’t want to believe. They are equally unsuccessful. And when we are that scattered, we don’t see how little focus we actually have. 

     At the airport, it’s the same. Those workers at that gate with four planes don’t really know what to do next because all four planes are important. But what do they focus on? What task do they do next? Which plane should they work on? This leads to uncertainty, a lack of efficiency and mistakes- big mistakes. And while the employees are running around stressed, working hard but making little progress, they look to the left to see the plane from the gate next to them lifting off. 

     Methodically, the next plane arrives at that gate. Preparations begin to get that plane ready for a safe liftoff. And, as they work only on that plane, the jet that lifted off is cruising over the middle of the country, requiring much less effort but progressing quickly. 

     This is business in a nutshell. 

     The call with Kyle ended with clarity, excitement and focus. He knew which of his “planes” needed his full attention. He saw the benefits of getting that one ready to lift off. He knew, once that plane was cruising, which would be the next “plane” to pull up to the gate. And he saw the vision of what life would be like in a few years when each of these planes was flying simultaneously without turbulence and with maximum efficiency. 

     Knowing how to navigate this is why some business owners seem like everything they create flies smoothly, while others seem like everything they do crashes time and time again. 


 If you are interested in purchasing a bulk order or either ten or 20 signed books and receiving a free business coaching call with me, email us at

vincent@totallifefreedom.com. 

 

 Have an AMAZING day!

 

-Vincent

I’ll be back next week!

 

In the meantime, I love adding options that can be a help to you!

 

1- I offer the audio version of my first book, Freelance to Freedom,

absolutely FREE here. I was honored to have amazing people like Seth Godin and Pat Flynn to endorse the book. 

 

2- Grab a copy of my new book, The Wealth of Connection here. 

 

3- If you are looking for an amazing community of business owners to work through the loneliness of entrepreneurship, build amazing connections and create that business that provides you time, money and location freedom, check out The Total Life Freedom Mastermind Community here.

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