Burn old ideas, burn!
Fredrik Haren
The Creativity Explorer. LinkedIn TOP VOICE 2024. Follow to discover your full creative potential. Creativity speaker, Innovation speaker. Author.
A few months ago the house that I used as storage for my book "The Idea Book" burnt down in a fire. All the books went up in flames!
I took it as a positive sign.
A sign that I should move on.
The book has served me really well. It has sold 250,000 copies (not bad for a self-published book), been translated to, I think, 17 languages and was included in "The 100 Best Business Books of All Time" etc. It was still selling well years after it came out. And most importantly I have hundreds and hundres of amazing stories from people who have told me how much the book has helped them become more creative.
But I am now done with that book.
The fire sent me the message that I should let the book go, to push me to start writing a new book. A book that, I hope, will become even more successful, and help even more people.
Like an "idea phoenix" creativity can obtain new life for a new idea by rising from the ashes of an old one.
Sometimes we need to kill one idea to give us space for an even better one to emerge.
What idea do you need to (metaphorically!) set on fire and turn into ashes so that you can move on to an even better idea?
Freelancer Designer
3 个月How interesting and serendipitous Fredrik. I watch a video today with Kian on the story of Lego and did you know his factory burnt twice? Although within 2 generations but still…. It shows It takes more than a fire to put out a good idea.
Exponential Growth in Productivity, People & Profits - Managerial Productivity and Time Maximization
3 个月Hi Fredrik. I’m SHOCKED at your reaction to losing all your IDEAS books. BUMMER and yet a HomeRunner! You never cease to amaze me my friend. I fly to Singapore tomorrow and will be in SG until the 16th of Sept. IF you are in town, I'd love to meet up with you... and maybe our old mastermind group. God bless you and your beautiful family. mike
Global Keynote Speaker | The CARE-centric Workplace Communication Architect. | Helping you create compassionate, empathy-driven engagement & leadership | Author/co-author of 14 books |
3 个月talk about a positive perspective on such an event! I had a basement flooding once, where I kept my books. I threw away the worst ones and gave away the ones with minimal damage. It actually felt good
Digital & Customer First / Community #FeedYourRebel@0711 / Ex-smart / Ex-Mercedes-Benz
3 个月oh no Fredrik Haren, but why fires good for our life? It's like wildfires in our nature:? "Wildfires can clear the ground of overgrown brush and debris, making space for new growth, reducing disease, and encouraging more plant variety."? #StayHungry_StayFoolish
I'd go further. Rather than "Sometimes we need to kill one idea to give us space for an even better one to emerge", I'd suggest we always need to, at one level or another. And if we can't identify the thing we're saying "goodbye forever" to, more thinking might be called for.