A client of mine, Jack, has been entrepreneurially minded for his whole life. He’s an idea machine, and he’s constantly coming up with cool business ideas. He can’t help it — it’s just how his brain works.
Naturally, he’ll get excited about a new idea and want to share it with people. As soon as inspiration hits (which is frequently), he’ll text his brother or call his mom or tell the coworker on the other side of his cube.
Their reactions aren’t always what he’d hoped for. In fact, they’re usually pretty discouraging. They’ll ask a million questions about how it will work — questions he can’t yet answer, since he’s still working out the idea in his mind — or they’ll jump to all the reasons why it’s risky or impractical or straight-up impossible.
Usually, after these deflating conversations, Jack will feel less enthusiastic about the idea, and often he’ll end up abandoning it altogether.
When Jack came to coaching, he told me he was afraid he’s all ideas and no action. He was feeling like maybe he wasn’t cut out to be an entrepreneur after all, since he couldn’t seem to stick with an idea and make it a reality.
“Your problem isn’t that you have too many ideas, or you’re flaky, or you lack follow-through, or anything like that,” I told him. “Your problem is just that you share your ideas too soon, and with the wrong people.”
In this week’s throwback blog from 2018, I’m making a case for why you should keep new ideas to yourself for a while, and how to know when it’s OK to share them with others.
CLARITY IN A TIME OF COVID IS BACK (FOR 2 WEEKS)!
2020 has been a YEAR, and you deserve something good! So, until Friday, December 18, we’re bringing back the super-popular promotion we did during the height of lockdown earlier this year:
Get the Passion Profile Short Course, our intro course that helps you get clear on your career direction in as little as 1 day, for 50% off its usual price ($125 instead of $250). No discount code needed! Price is automatically lower on our site.
Get a single coaching session with one of us! We normally only offer one-off sessions to former clients, but we’re now opening this option up to everyone.
Get both the PPSC and a single coaching session as a bundle! When you check out for either the PPSC or a single session, add the other to your cart as an upgrade. It’s $125 for the PPSC, $150 for a single session, or $225 for the bundle!
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