Why good ideas are often ridiculed first
Revolutionary ideas always come packaged in boxes with emotional labels. Like the sound of the word Eureka!! This may be the reason that a great and wonderful idea may sound as an emotional response to make a point. But sometimes ideas are nothing but an emotion, leaving us exposed to be ridiculed for our lack of EQ.
Then again, thinking about good ideas that are ridiculed, my memory reminds me of a company named Pet Rock. No one will believe that back in 1975 this company used to sell rocks packed in cardboard boxes to people for $4 a piece and made millions doing just that.
Today, when I think about it a question arises, “Who would buy a rock in a box??” And it confuses me how the founder of this company tackled it.
But Pet Rock isn’t alone, there are many ideas that were laughed at when they were first conceived. So today we will look at the reason why the big ideas are so humorous and how can one really know the truth.
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Why People Laugh At Brilliant Ideas
There was a market for people who wanted to buy rocks so selling rocks worked out. What if some day people would want to buy trash. That can work too if the trash is useful to someone. But to those who don't want to buy trash will only laugh at you if you go and tell them that you want to sell trash.
And selling trash is a big business. Sweden imports trash from other countries just to keep its recycling plants working.
The problem is that people always laugh at those things which they think are ridiculous according to their own model of the world. And the people who lack knowledge of such things, combined with a lack of wisdom of not being open minded towards the information that they don’t know, are the ones who are in grave danger of acknowledging too high their own foolishness as a sense of amusement and joy.
Those who are open minded to things that they don't know about can reap great benefits not because they have great ideas, but because of their wise nature and attitude to life.
So next time you think of presenting an idea, which you think can work choose your audience wisely. Know what they know, where they came from, how wise they are and what makes them click.
How To Know That Something Will Work
Intuition is a gift man is born with. Intuition is the ability of our brain to make a connection between things. We use it all the time to make connections and arrive at conclusions. For example, everyone can tell in one look why they hate a certain combination of clothes. But rarely will they give a reason for it. Sometimes we can try to give a reason, but most of the times we trust our intuitions to be true. With experience our intuitive capabilities improve and so our decisions. And every time we don't have to think of reasons behind our decisions. We know that they are right. So you don't need to answer questions like:
Why this dress will look great? Why this dress stands apart from the rest? Why this dress will only work for a certain occasion? What would you have to do to make this dress work?
The same thing goes with an idea. Initially an idea is just an intuition that you trust in. But an idea is not that simple to work with. It's not a dress that you can wear to see if it looks good.
When we have to make the market wear a certain idea, there are much difficult questions that we have to answer. It is like giving a solid reason to every intuition that strikes our mind. That’s because intuitions alone can not be trusted. Many times they fail. We need to have solid evidence and reason that why a certain idea will work.
So, before pitching any idea think about it deeply enough. Do your homework. Lay out the assumptions that you are assuming to be true, but have no solid reason to believe in (these are your intuitions). Test these assumptions by looking at the models of other big ideas. See if these same assumptions worked there, and why. You will have to develop trust about why your idea can work before pitching it to others.
But, this is not the only way one can know if something will work or not. You also have the market to test your idea. The more you try the more you will know what people will like or hate. It a long process but worthy of giving a shot at. So never be afraid of anything if you believe in yourself and your idea.
Originally Published on Yourstory
Author Bio:
Sandeep Kashyap is the Founder and CEO of ProofHub — a leading project management and collaboration software. He’s one person always on a lookout for innovative ideas about filling the communication gap between groups, teams, and organizations. You’ll find him saying, “Let’s go!” instead of “Go!” many times a day. That’s what makes him write about leadership in a way people are inspired to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more.