Too many ideas and in love with them all?
A four step process for choosing which great ideas to pursue.
By Marcy Nelson-Garrison MA LP CPCC

Have you ever experienced one of those wildly fun stretches where your creative instincts are on fire and the ideas flow faster than you can jot them down? I've been in one of those periods lately – I think this will go down as the summer of a gazillion ideas. The trouble with so many great ideas is that you are forced to choose – aaargh! A challenge when you want to do them all.

I see my clients showing up with this question all the time. “How do I choose?” In tackling this question head on myself, a four step process emerged for choosing which creative ideas to go for. Read the full article here

Step One – Check your compass
It's just as easy for a creative idea to move your dreams forward as it is to open up whole new territories or even derail you completely. Knowing the direction you are headed and what is most important to you right now and down the road is an essential starting place. This step requires some reflection;

Where am I now?
Where do I want to be a year from now?
Who am I becoming?
What does my career, business or life need most right now?

There are no wrong answers – just your answers. Are you chomping at the bit for fast action and high visibility in your career? Do you want your business to function without you so you can spend more time with family? Do you want to explore new themes and shift direction? Do you want to deepen an area of expertise or develop a new niche?

Capture your big picture direction and why it's important in one or two sentences. You will want to make sure your choices aligned with the direction you have set for yourself.

Step Two – Comparing apples to oranges
I know this starts to get pretty linear but step two is all about developing a way to compare one idea to another. You can do this by creating a criteria matrix. Once established you can run each idea through your list of criteria and give it a numerical rating.

This doesn't have to be complicated. To see an example of a criteria matrix I developed for myself click - Marcy's Project Criteria Matrix. Remember Step One? Alignment with current business direction is listed first in my matrix. I also weighted it with more points.

Find a rating system that works for you – it can be as simple as high, low, medium or a 1-5 scale. Choose criteria based on what's important to you, what you know about yourself, how you like to work and the general requirements of implementing your idea. Then tally up the points and see which ideas rise to the top. Bottom line - you are looking for alignment, excitement, whether it makes sense with where you are going and whether the payoff worth the time and energy required.

Step Three – The big squeeze.
You would think it would be all figured out after step two. Some ideas stand out more than others and those are the ones you go for – right? I thought so too until I tried to fit them all into a three month timeline. The big squeeze refers to do-ability. How much can you realistically fit into your schedule and still have a life.

First you need to get a realistic feel for how long things take. Break down the implementation of your idea into bite sized chunks and estimate how much time each chunk will take. For example a short list of steps required to implement an e-book idea might include; outline, research, writing, editing, designing, setting up a delivery system and marketing. Put a number to each step. Everything will take longer than you think so double any numbers you come up with. Once you have done this for each of the top ideas, compare the time required to how much time you actually have.

This step provides a pretty potent reality check and your list may need to be revisited. Consider having three lists – do now, do next (3-9 months out) and do someday. For guidance, go back to the criteria matrix, refer to Step One and take the "will it make me happy" test:

Imagine yourself three months out and based on what's most important to you (Step One) ask yourself- If I could only complete one of these ideas;
Which one would I be the most proud and excited about?

Step Four – Maintaining the plan
You will want to keep your plan in site and check in with it periodically – at least monthly. Once you have decided what you will work on and dive in you may notice that things take longer or go faster than you originally thought. Check in to see if you are on track and revise the plan as needed. The more you do this the more accurate your estimating and planning in the future will be.

The big payoff
As linear as this process is, I'm excited about the real tangible progress I'm seeing and I think you will be pleased too. Rather than making a little bit of progress on a gazillion things, feeling spread too thin and frustrated that I can't do it all. I've made a commitment to completion – which also means a commitment to celebration! There is nothing more satisfying than a creative idea being realized.

If you have thoughts, tips and experiences on this topic, I'd love to collect them and share them in a future newsletter. Email Marcy@coachingtoys.com

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