Ideas need space to breathe. A little air.
There are always ideas. They arrive – a little puffed out – after a run. When we sleep, are they ideas or dreams? Does it matter? Write them down before you forget.
They pop up when you’re walking … in the shower or as you drift off. There when you have a notebook to hand, there when you can’t find a pen. Ideas teeter on the edge of remembrance at the very moment someone asks what you’re thinking and then drift into the air, never to return.
In our small business life, our ideas could be overwhelming.
They were the sort of notions that turned into a ‘to do’ list, which makes them a pressure. No matter how often you say “pressure is for tyres” we all still let it build up. You can’t help yourself, can you? It’s an idea. You have a business. You weave the thinking into a new ‘something’, don’t you? Well, ‘yes’ … but it probably should be ‘no’. Maybe you need to leave some ideas to ferment. Wait and see what happens.
Our coffee shop/deli was about community, gatherings, and great tastes. It was a celebration of good folk making outstanding products. Life on our high street was about creating space for other people to shine. It got crazy busy. We tried to ease off; our ideas were about slowing down and rediscovering the space we had when we first opened. Back then there had been time to share stories; there were quiet moments to linger over coffee and talk to someone about what they were doing. That was the whole idea … create a place where folk could slow life down.
Almost imperceptibly, the air was sucked out of that idea.
Rush, rush … is my cappuccino ready yet … four cheese toasties, we’re on it … what, you’ve sold all the cakes? Other people’s fast lives and their need for fast food made our ideas disappear over the fast-approaching horizon.
What about slow? It was a simple enough wish. Slow down, talk more, listen, learn, encourage, celebrate others.
Less of a ‘to do’ … more of a ‘way things are done around here’.
We needed to give that idea some space so we closed the deli. We stepped away. We took a moment to breathe the air. We let some air out of the over-pressured tyres we’d been rolling along on.
Step back, folks, give the idea some room.
Sell the house. Breathe. Travel in a van. Relax. Take the idea with you, the change of scene will do it good. Reflect on what worked, what was good. Settle on the values that matter. Write them down and test them off against the ‘idea’.
Wonder aloud if the idea needs a ‘somewhere’ to bring it to life. Find a place and show it to the idea. All nod, agreeing instinctively that this is where it can breathe.