Making Ideas Happen

Making ideas happen = Ideas + Organization + Communal forces + Leadership capability. (Location 133)

Everything in life should be approached as a project. Every project can be broken down into just three things: Action Steps, Backburner Items, and References. (Location 139)

“I think there are two phases,” Jonathan explained to me, “the first being the one where you are just picking up signals from the ether. [Ideas] aggregate over time and then pop out one day when you are in the shower. I think the second phase is deciding ‘Okay, I’m going to actually pursue this given thing.’ And then once you’ve decided, it’s a different mind-set from that point forward. At least with that particular idea, because you have to become more rational and more logical, more disciplined. It’s less about receiving and it’s more about synthesizing and distilling and then ultimately producing. And I think it’s something that a lot of creative people struggle with because maybe the former is a more pleasing way to live your life, but the latter is the only way that you actually get anything done.” (Location 270)

The way you organize projects, prioritize, and manage your energy is arguably more important than the quality of the ideas you wish to pursue. (Location 301)

your productivity is really about how well you are able to make an impact in what matters most to you. (Location 313)

As psychologist Keith Sawyer, a protégé of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (author of the renowned creativity book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience), writes in his 2007 book Group Genius, “All great inventions emerge from a long sequence of small sparks; the first idea often isn’t all that good, but thanks to collaboration it later sparks another idea, or it’s reinterpreted in an unexpected way. Collaboration brings small sparks together to generate breakthrough innovation.” (Location 322)

To grow and sustain creative pursuits, you must be able to keep others engaged with your ideas. (Location 343)

We become intolerant of procedures, restrictions, and process. Nevertheless, organization is the guiding force of productivity: if you want to make an idea happen, you need to have a process for doing so. (Location 386)

If you develop the capacity to organize yourself and those around you, you can beat the odds. (Location 408)

Brainstorming should start with a question and the goal of capturing something specific, relevant, and actionable. (Location 477)

key realization should be that everything in life is a project, and every project must be broken down into Action Steps, References, and Backburner Items. It’s that simple. (Location 557)

Try to see each project as a collection of the three elements: Action Steps, Backburner Items, and References. (Location 732)

Time spent processing is arguably the most valuable and productive time of your day. While processing, you will sort everything and distinguish Action Steps, Backburner Items, and References. With Action Steps, you will decide what can be done quickly and what must be tracked over time by project—and possibly delegated. With other materials, you will make judgments about what can be thrown away and what must be filed. (Location 791)

The solution can be as simple as a spreadsheet or to-do list where all Action Steps are tracked (and can be sorted by project name or due date). You can also make use of more advanced project management applications that manage Action Steps and support delegation and collaboration. (Location 801)

Prioritization is a force that relies on sound judgment, self-discipline, and some helpful pressure from others. (Location 837)