“A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Here is a question for you: What have you been thinking about? What idea keeps coming into your head that you think on but do nothing about? I know you have one – or two – or more. Unless you are brain dead you get ideas, it is part of the human condition. Getting ideas is not anything special, it is doing something about them that is special. Cartoonist Ashleigh Brillant said, “Good ideas are common – what’s uncommon are people who will work hard enough to bring them about.”

One of the qualities of Success-Minded People is that they are people of action. We like to get things done and always move forward. But even people of action can miss a good idea. You see we think that our ideas are nothing special because we thought them up. They may even seem simple to us because we know them so well. What you must understand is that the rest of the world does not know them. To them, our idea may be just the thing to solve a major problem or meet a need.

We all know and have experienced having an idea and one day in a store we see our idea on a shelf. What is the difference between our idea and the one that was carried out? Someone took action on their idea, that’s all. Author Alfred Montapert pointed out, “Every time a person puts an idea across, he finds ten people who thought about it before he did – but they only thought about it.” I believe there are really no new ideas in the world, never was. The only thing that is new is the people who put them into reality.

Orville and Wilber Wright were not the first people to think about flight. Thomas Edison was not the first to think how great it would be to have electric lights. Gutenberg was not the first to think, “There’s got to be an easier way to print this book.” They all had ideas that others shared, they just took action and did not quite till they made their idea into something real.

Earl Nightingale said, “Everything begins with an idea.” So what is your idea? What do you have to do to make it happen? Even if you do not know what you can do, what can you start doing? All it takes is action. Start moving and you will be amazed on how one step leads to another. You do not have to have all the answers or know how it will all work out. You only have to believe that it will work out and that you will find a way. If you have the idea in you, the how to make the idea work is in there too.

Be brave and step out with that idea that you have kicked around in your head. All you have to do to start is to start. Write it down, do some research, tinker with something, and just take action. Everything you see around you came from an idea. Others have proven over and over again that a Success-Minded Person can take a simple idea and make it something great. You’re a Success-Minded Person, so why not you? I believe you can do it. Why? Because I believe in you.

© 2011 John Patrick Hickey