Have you ever had a cool, totally new and absolutely unique idea for something? And did it happen to you too, that after doing some research you found out that there are dozens of other people who had the same idea?
I had this experience countless times. Whether it was a cool company name, a unique character I wanted to create, an innovative story for a game, or a never-seen-before application. You start dreaming how this idea will change your world and begin to wonder how no one has thought of that before. But then you do your due diligence and quickly realize that you are actually not that smart. Haha. Welcome back to earth mate.
And still, when you get to the bottom of it, many such ideas don’t materialize. At least not very well. Paul Bragiel recently said in an interview: “Ideas don’t matter. Everybody has the same ideas. It’s the execution of an idea that really matters.” And I think he is right. Why is it that many ideas don’t translate into actual artwork, products, or technology? Because execution is hard!
Success is rarely rooted in the novelty or originality of an idea. It’s whether you succeed in executing on it, and how well you do it. You won’t know if an idea works if you don’t try to actually make something. Some things won’t work, but some will.
Don’t stop at the ideation phase. TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH! Go and make stuff. Get it out there. Learn from it. And then make more stuff.