Lack of Money is Not the Obstacle

Money is critical to the success of any business. Either you need capital to get going, profit to keep going or revenue to meet Wall Street expectations. Money is a key a deliverable that most if not all companies are measured by. However, no matter if you are starting a company or working for a Fortune 100, money is not an obstacle to your success. The true obstacle for success is the lack of ideas.

What is an idea anyway? Google defines an idea as a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action. An idea in itself is only a possibility. Yet everything that you have ever accomplished is an example of a possibility that became a reality. Your current job was just an idea before you were actually in it. Whether that was your idea or someone else’s, the idea was first and you being in that job followed sometime after. Ideas are the beginning to all things created.

We Were Born to Create

Your life is unfolding in front of you every day. We were all put on this earth to create. As a result you are creating your life. Sometimes that is a hard pill to swallow, especially if your life isn’t currently living up to your desires. Other times you can be proud of all your life accomplishments that you have been able to create. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, you are there because of what you have or haven’t created.

In order to create money you must first have an idea. Therefore the idea is the root cause to success. The money is the output from the idea. The more ideas you have the better chance you have of creating the money you desire. The more ideas you have the more chance you have of removing money as an obstacle.

Capturing the Ideas We Have

The beauty of the human mind is that it is full of ideas. The tragedy is that too many of us don’t share those ideas. We keep them to ourselves. We let them come and go. We don’t capture them for analysis and future creation. We just let life happen instead of making it happen. Chances are you won’t get the results you want out of life taking that approach.

Here are some suggestions you should implement to start capturing and analyzing ideas. By implementing one or more of these suggestions you have a better chance of creating a habit that will lead to success.

Use a Tool to Capture Ideas Anywhere, Anytime or Anyplace

· A simple journal is a great way to capture ideas. Keep it with you in the car, on your desk or in your room. When you have ideas write them down. There is power in pen and paper.
· Use technology to capture your ideas
o Create a simple word document named IDEAS
o Use a mobile app like Evernote to capture ideas
o Use the notes application on your phone or desktop
o Use a voice recorder (phone, desktop, Alexa, Google Home)
o Use a collaboration tool to capture ideas from many people (Sharepoint, Trello, Google Docs, etc)

Develop a Routine to Force You to Capture Ideas

· First thing every morning
· Lunch
· Once a week, month, quarter
· Set a recurring appointment on your calendar until it becomes routine

Combine the Power of Multiple Minds and Create a Mastermind Group

· Choose 3-5 trusted and talented individuals to share ideas (combining the routine and tools above)
· Schedule an Idea focused lunch (share a meal and discuss ideas)
· Schedule an Idea focused walk (walking outside fuels creativity)

Capture ideas first and analyze them later (I’ll provide more guidance on analyzing ideas in a future write up.) Remember the more ideas the better chance you have of creation. If you haven’t incorporated a habit of generating and capturing ideas you are missing out on an opportunity to improve your chances of success. Implement some of these suggestions and witness the creations that follow. You were put on this earth to create and the more you create the more success you will have in life.

One of Zig Ziglar’s most famous quotes on money is “Money isn’t the most important thing in life, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen on the “gotta have it” scale.” Without money you will run into many obstacles in life. However money itself won’t be the real obstacle. The real obstacle will be the lack of ideas. In order to get the money you need then you “gotta have” ideas. Take some of the advice above and go get your ideas.

Have a great week,
Drew