10 Minute Challenge

I’m re-reading one of the most important and practical business books of all time. If you don’t have it, get it. Now.

I’ll wait right here for you.

The book is called Ready, Fire, Aim, and as I go through it again, I keep finding great hidden gems from Mark Ford (the book was written under his pen name, Michael Masterson).

My latest discovery was Mark’s advice about capitalizing on good ideas. He insists we act fast when we come up with new good ideas.

This is his “24-Hour Rule for Preserving the Inspiration of Genius”.

a) All brainstorming sessions should be audio recorded.
b) When a tipping-point idea is suggested, a short advertising piece (headline & lead) that encapsulates it must be written within 24 hours.

As Mark says…
 
“When it comes to getting brilliant innovations actualized, time is your enemy. Time fogs the memory, erases important details, and eventually dissolves all great ideas.

“The faster you can get a great idea out of the realm of conceptual and into action, the better your chances of preserving its original brilliance.

“There is a reason for this. Great ideas are, as Malcolm Gladwell points out in The Tipping Point, minor variations on commonly held ideas. What separates ideas that cause floods from those that are merely absorbed into the marketplace are those minor variations. Details matter.”

So you MUST act fast.

That’s your 10-minute challenge for any brainstorming session where you come up with a new great big idea.

Keep on pushing on,

Craig Ballantyne
“You’re far more likely to go not-far-enough than you are to go too far.” – Seth Godin