I'm an idea person.  Some would say I'm a creative visionary, others might say a foolish dreamer.  Maybe you are like me with visions and ideas floating around in your head just waiting to implement.  Maybe you're also like me in that you've never had a "bad idea" in your life.  In other words, idea people thrive on new ideas and, almost always, believe that each idea is the best thing since slice bread. Why, then, do most of your ideas never come to fruition? Maybe the two best answers to that question are a) They weren't supposed to or b) they weren't given enough attention.

Have you ever been in a brainstorming session run amuck?  Idea after idea gets thrown out and the process keeps going and going.  Everything from the impractical, the irrelevant to the absurd is posted on the board.  Everyone's ideas are valued as equal.  The whole goal of this exercise is to help the team break free from conventional thinking to possibly stumble upon one great idea, or at least a general solution to the problem.  Free-thinking is a great place to be for awhile, but stay there too long and everyone's brain will be mush.  Why?  Because ideas are ultimately only useful if they have an application.  The group may come up with tons of great ideas that just don't seem to address the problem at hand.

Questions to ask for your idea.

1. Has this already been tried before? How? Was it successful and why?  Do some research to find out if anyone else has already done this.  That will save you time and frustration on the implementation.  Idea people always think that they are the first to think of something, when in reality, a hundred people have probably already "run it up the flagpole."  Find those people and learn from them.  Chances are they are just as excited about the idea.
2. Does this idea have application now? The important thing here is to write down your idea and try to find an immediate need for it.  There may be a market for your idea, but it may not be apparent at the moment.  If there appears to be a need, then do your research to confirm it.  If not, file it for later.
3. Why doesn't anyone else believe in my idea? This is a hard question to answer. People are probably used to hearing about your latest and greatest idea, only to never see it become a reality.  They get excited at first, but soon learn that you also have a hundred other ideas.  Maybe your idea is too big for them to grasp, or maybe they've just learned to tune you out because they're tired of your idea ADHD.  You may be able to spawn ideas faster than salmon eggs, but you need to learn where to spend your "selling" energy.  Not every idea is worth putting in more than a minute of thought.  Every once in awhile, however, an idea is.  It's there that you spend your social capital and rally others to your cause.
4. Did I invest enough time in my last great idea? Don't make the mistake of going from idea to idea, only to see them all fail.  Current and effective programs or products shouldn't always have to compete with the new ones for oxygen within the organization.  Some "failed" ideas were great, except that they weren't given enough attention or resources for a long enough time.  Ideas in an organization are like bricks that are built one upon another to make a stronger and stronger overall structure.  New ideas are not always better, they're just more exciting - for awhile.

Keep dreaming.  Keep brainstorming.  Keep visioning.  Just try not to drown in a pool of your unrealized dreams.  A good idea is worth putting energy into.  Very few ideas are worth pouring a lifetime into. But when they come along, they can change the world.

I would love to hear your thoughts or personal experience why ideas aren't realized?

Goals can be broken down into several categories:

• God-sized life goals - These are humongous goals that are unachievable without some divine intervention.  Examples: Cure cancer, travel to every country in the world, begin a movement.  These types of goals are what give our life their ultimate purpose.  They guide us long-term and can become very powerful and determining forces for our decision-making over our whole lifespan.  These life-goals are like the top of a multi-story staircase and are often the crowing achievements of one's life.
• Intermediate goals - These goals are often difficult to achieve, and can take years to accomplish.  Examples: Graduate from college, travel to Paris, purchase a house.  These types of goals get us from one place in life to another.  They are often not ends to themselves, but rather means to a bigger end.  Intermediate goals are like individual flights of stairs that get us one floor higher to the top.
• Short-term goals - These goals can be accompished within days, weeks or a few months.  They are the little accomplishments that help us get our work and life done from week to week.  Examples: run 40 miles this week, balance my checkbook, finish reading a novel.  Many times, we don't even think of these as goals because they are so small.  They are usually made up of smaller tasks.  Even though they are small, some people like myself find that these are the most difficult goals to achieve.  I will take a big audacious goal any day over a small easy task.  Others are pros at knocking out small, short-term goals.

Even if you're not a "goal-oriented" person, you probably have several goals in your life.  The question is not whether you have goals, but rather, what size goals do you have and do you have a strategy for achieving different types of goals?  Even a professional couch-potato has a goal, which is, to stay on the couch as much as possible.  What makes some people strive to achieve greater things while others set their sights much lower?  I am not naturally a task-oriented goal setter, but here are some of the things that cause me to set goals. 

• Past experience - some goals are set or not because of a positive or a negative experience in my life.  I look back and desire to experience something positive again, or to NOT experience something that was painful.
• Ambition - human ambition can be an incredibly powerful force in peoples' lives for setting and achieving goals.  This can obviously be a good or a bad thing, depending on what boundaries are set to protect oneself and others.  Sometimes my ambition drives me to set unrealistic goals, simply because I want to be "the best."
• Purpose - some people, like myself, don't set goal and achieve goals unless it ties to a greater purpose in their life.  Many a slacker has transformed into a single-minded workaholic when there is a purpose to work for.  I can spend all day doing trivial things, until I'm reminded of my God-given purpose in life.
• Pride - For me to admit that I can't do something is very difficult.  Some goals that I set for myself are there simply to prove that "I can."

Life without challenge becomes boring, and a boring life is just, well, dull.  When I write or voice my goals to someone else, I am challenging myself to achieve something.  My sister Sarah and I both decided to sign up for an IronMan together.  Why?  Because we both need challenge, and by doing it together, neither one of us is likely to back out.  I told my wife I was going to run at least one marathon this next year.  Even though she doesn't quite understand why, she sees the excitement that it brings in my life to set a big goal and work towards it.

I have stated other bigger goals, sometimes without even believing that they are possible.  Will I achieve every goal that I set?  Maybe not in my lifetime, but I will die trying.  1Cor. 9:27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 

What kind of goal setter are you?  Do you always think big, or do you go small?  I challenge you, and myself, to look at your strenghts and weaknesses in this area.  Whever you are strong, embrace it.  Whever you are weak, don't let that sabatoge achieving your purpose in life.  Also, collaborate with other who excel in areas of goals, tasks achievement where you don't.