You might well be the one and only

How many times have you had a great idea but your in-built censure mechanism prevented you from spilling it to the world? I bet any of you had countless of those moments.

Great ideas are extremely frequent. So frequent in fact, we all have them more often than we change our undies. I know that some of us are very poor undies swappers but even the cleaner specimen among us still have great ideas way more frequently.

How is it then, that a great idea leading to something great is so rare? Simple answer – because of the simple fact that we are all naturally lazy. There simply is no innate drive to propel us to be the best we can be. Evolution dictates that life occupies every possible niche as good as possible and grows as strong as possible, but only until a certain equilibrium is reached.

In nature, the constant dangers of being killed kept the primitive man – and all other life forms with him – alert. Not wanting to die or providing for offspring was such a paramount task that every one of our ancestors constantly pushed the boundaries.

Well, there are always stragglers but nature did away with them pretty swiftly. Besides, they rarely ever got to proliferate.

Modern man, however, is born into equilibrium. He does not have to fight to create and maintain it. It is just there catering to another mechanism – slack.

Nature wants us to slack if we get too successful which also means to proliferate as this would endanger a healthy mix of life forms. The unchecked proliferation of one species leads to the annihilation of other species which is a threat to bio-diversity.

Honestly, this mechanism works so well that I sometimes like to believe in intelligent design. It is brutally efficient as it constantly wipes out those who slack too much. Too much proliferation and slack sets in killing enough of a species to make space for others which then increases competitive pressure so the cycle repeats itself.

Natural equilibrium – at its best.

In our civilized world, however, this in-built slacking mechanism prevents us from getting ahead. As it’s hard-wired in us it’s hell to beat but it can still be done.

However, beating the slacker in us is constant work with many pitfalls and failures to happen pretty certainly. Nature had billions of years to properly set us up for this so don’t be surprised if you fail many times.

Failure manifests itself in countless little ways. When you overeat – especially when the mirror tells you that you should not – you are a slacker. When you cheat at the crosswords you are a slacker. When you don’t push your relationship with your significant other to be the best it could be or let your kids grow nasty habits, you are a slacker. Complete this list at your leisure. Be very specific here as writing down what’s wrong in our lives is a powerful step to getting tackled.

And yes, if you don’t follow on to make your great idea real, you are a slacker – each time you have given in to the natural urge in us to lie low and let go. We all are slackers every day with countless little (and sometimes big) situations. The trick is to not let it overwhelm you completely and don’t be discouraged if you fail again after it has started to work for you. Just stand up, dust yourself off, and move on.

But it’s not only slack. It’s also a strong dose of self-doubt.

How can it be that it is you, among all those billions of souls, that shall be destined to shape a piece of history? How can it be that others had not yet thought of this? They sure must have and probably have found in the process that it would not work. Probably they have suffered for it and still failed so it must well be impossible.

I have just one word to say. Sissyyyy

You are being a Wimp and you are just in the quest to give yourself a couple of cool-sounding reasons why it’s not worth bothering. The slacker has you again and he is very convincing. Besides, if others have failed and you will too, you are making a fool out of yourself and others will laugh at you. Even more of a reason to not even try.

This alone, it seems, is enough to deter grown men from making even the most insignificant leap.

It is so rare that someone steps up to beat all the little nasty voices in and out of his head, one chooses to ignore all this good advice given by all those slackers, chooses to expose himself to give his one great idea life and matter.

Because great ideas are indeed a dime a dozen but there are very few people who are willing to muster the willpower it takes to make it real. The strength to face failure and ridicule to do this one significant thing in life. It is so rare in fact that those following troughs are as rare as the most expensive gemstones.

Now apply the extreme proliferation of great ideas to those very rare people and you get a strong chance that a given great idea, even if it has been hatched by millions, might well have only one single person to make it real.

Many had ideas about relativity (it’s not such a difficult concept after all) but it took an Einstein to make it real. There were sketches and ideas on stylish computers but it took Steve Jobs to create the Mac. The principles of flight were known for many decades and many had grandiose ideas but it took the Wright brothers to get a combustion engine airborne. The list is endless.

If you have a great idea that has not been realized yet and you ask yourself why it shall be you, you alone on this whole planet to make it real then I only have one answer for you.

Because you may be the only one who is willing to take action. Oh, if you ask yourself which of the many great ideas you shall make real. Take the next one that comes up. It’s you that matters, not the idea.