Turn Ideas into Action and Ignite Your Potential

Take advantage of your lightbulb moments and turn your ideas into new possibilities for growth and development. Action plan and take action on the important ideas in your life with my ideation process.

The best ideas come to us when we least expect them because that's when we are usually the most relaxed. For me it's usually in the shower or when I am trying to fall asleep at night.

Often, the great idea I had while showering evaporates with the steam and it’s gone by the time I get dressed. And as I am drifting off into dreamland, I can't be bothered to get up and write the idea down, so the next morning my brain is reset to a blank.

In these two instances, I am trying my best to make an audio note on my phone or jot down the essence of the idea quickly in a journal before the thought fades. It's a habit I am building in progress...

So while I may be excused for not taking note of the great ideas at inopportune times (like in the shower and my bed), there is no excuse for when I am fully alert with the tools to do so during the day.

Think of all the great "ah-ha" moments that you have each day. You may not even recall them as they flash across your mind and you quickly dismiss them to move on with daily busyness.

Even worse, think of all the lightbulb moments where you dismissed your possibly brilliant idea with self-doubt or lack of confidence.

When I think back to the most rewarding successes in my life, many of them started with a small timid spark of an idea that I had to validate first to myself. Often, that validation process wasted a lot of time on the "convincing myself" phase.

Over the years I have discovered a process to help me turn my ideas into action more systematically. This process has helped me validate or invalidate lightbulb moment ideas with more clarity and courage. It has helped me to identify if that idea is important and valuable enough for me to investigate further.

This week, I am sharing my "ideas to action" process with you in hopes that it can help you to validate your creativity and innovation skills.

Start by Being Open to Inspiration

Inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere, a book, a class, a show, a podcast, a conversation, music, nature, art, food, the list is endless. You just need to be open to receiving it and disciplined enough to capture it.

The more aware, present and mindful you are of your daily surroundings, interactions and activities, the more you are open to inspiration.

Some of the best content I have created in my career in learning and development and consulting have been inspired by movies, books and daily observations of human nature. The magic sparks come to me in the form of a tugged heartstring, a sense of curiosity and thoughts that start with, "What if..."

Recently, I had a "What if..." idea that kept on swirling in my brain as I battled the self-doubt voices. So I decided to put it through my "ideas to action" process to see if it was worthy of validation.

My lightbulb idea was:

What if we can build a habit of capturing the lightbulb moments with a tool to help us think them through so that we can confidently turn ideas into action?

Over the past few months, I have been diligently working through this lightbulb idea with my "ideas to action" process. It has helped me to overcome self-doubt so that I can act on my dream of creating and publishing self-development tools that help others ignite their potential.

The result is my first self-published, self-development tools, an "Ideas to Action: Self-development Ideation Journal" and the "Ideas to Action Mini Notebook". They are available for sale now on Amazon.com.

The ideation journal is a fun prompted journal to capture lightbulb moments with questions to prompt you to see the value of your ideas. Then the prompts guide you to think out how you can action on the idea. I have sprinkled some motivational quotes along the way to cheer you on. The mini notebook is something you can carry with you for whenever inspiration strikes.

This is my first endeavour in self-publishing and it's success remains to be seen. In the process, I have expanded my comfort zone, climbed a steep learning curve, and gained the confidence to do more. To me, that is already a win.

The Ideas to Action Process

My books are a fun way to encourage you to build the habit of capturing your lightbulb moments. While I hope you will check them out and try them out, my bigger goal on AYCLimitless.com is to promote self-development, self-care and mindfulness to everyone.

So here is my "ideas to action" process for you to try, using my lightbulb moment idea of self-publishing as an example to take you through the process.

1. Give Context That Matters:

What was the spark for this idea?

Recalling and noting what sparked an idea gives me context for the inspiration. The context is often where the idea's value and need are derived.

Example:

The spark for my ideation journal came as I was scrolling through my iPhone "Blog Ideas" note pages and thinking to myself, "What was that idea about and why did I think it was so great at the time?"

2. Concisely and Confidently Describe the Idea:

How would you express the idea in one simple sentence with no fear or judgement?

When it's a note to myself and for my eyes only, I write with more freedom and courage to express exactly what I am thinking without fear or judgement. The result is a concise sentence that clearly describes the idea.

Example:

Create a prompted journal to capture ideas and help me think them out in a format that I would be motivated to carry with me and use.

3. See the Purpose and Passion Behind the Idea:

What this idea means to you and the value it can bring to your life and/or others'.

Having a clear purpose or driving passion behind the idea will give it value. When the purpose, passion and value are clear, the more motivation there is to turn the idea into action.

Example:

The purpose and passion behind this idea are to capture and value my ideas so that I can invest more thought and planning to turn them into action. This idea will help build my creative and innovative thinking skills. It could also be a good tool to share with others and inspire them to do the same.

4. Work With Results in Mind:

List the benefits and solutions that this idea would make in your life and/or others.

To help visualize the results from an idea, create a list of benefits and solutions that the idea would result in. The more specific the benefits and solutions, the more motivation to make them happen.

Example:

- A convenient way to capture and explore ideas.

- A learning process for me to explore self-publishing.

- A tool that can help me with self-development for my clients and training projects.

- A self-development product that can help others to capture and explore their ideas.

5. Plan It Like You Mean It:

List the resources that you need to bring the idea to life.

This is the part where the idea gets even more concrete for me as I list the things that I need to do to make the idea happen, create a timeline and then schedule it in my calendar for action. Consider things like resources such as research and learning new skills, getting outside help and costs involved.

Example:

- Research and learn how to self-publish via online platforms (2-3 weeks)

- Research and learn to use design software for creating the cover and interior of the book (1 month)

- Plan, create, design and write the content of the book (1 month)

- Cost for platform memberships to sell and distribute the book, proofreading and editing, etc.

Using these considerations and this thought process, I can effectively flush out viable ideas to action on and the scariness of the abstract idea is replaced with excitement for the concrete opportunities.

Grow Your Creativity, Innovation, Confidence and Courage

It's easy to dismiss opportunities to grow our creativity and innovation in the minutia of our daily busy lives. Once the "ah-ha" moment passes, it's a struggle to recapture that spark of genius and it often doesn't come back quite as brilliantly.

Other times, I look at the ideas I have listed in my notepad and think, "Where did that come from?", "Why did I think that was a good idea?" or "Would that even work?".

The hardest part of actioning on my ideas is the little voice in my head whispering, "That's a dumb idea."

My process of:

1. Give Context That Matters

2. Concisely and Confidently Describe the Idea

3. See the Purpose and Passion Behind the Idea

4. Work With Results in Mind

5. Plan It Like You Mean It

Helps me to validate my ideas and make them into actionable opportunities. The more I practice this habit, the more easily I dismiss self-doubt so I can give my ideas a chance.

As an entrepreneur and consulting business owner, maximizing creativity and innovation is vital to the success of my business.

As a still newbie blogger and advocate for self-development, self-care and mindfulness, my confidence and courage to act on ideas are growing as I expand my comfort zone.

The act of capturing lightbulb moment ideas is a step toward growth.

I encourage you to have confidence in your brilliant ideas and turn them into action. They may not all come to fruition, but investing time and attention to developing your creativity and innovation skills is worth the action.

"The biggest challenge is to fulfill your own ideas about yourself."

Judit Polgar

I would love to hear your comments!

When do you get your best lightbulb moment ideas?

How do you capture your sparks of inspiration?

What is an "ah-ha" moment that you successfully transformed from an idea into action recently?

Check out my Ideas to Action: Self-development Journal and Ideas to Action Mini Notebook if you are looking for fun tools to help you ideate.

If you would like to explore more about self-development, here are some related blogs to help you transform ideas into action:

Expanding Your Comfort Zone: Grow your comfort zone to get comfortable doing more of the things in life that matter to you most.

Transform Self-help Ideas into Action: Take the valuable knowledge from your bookshelf and put them into action.

Beat Imposter Syndrome with the Power of Personal Purpose: When self-doubt limits your ability to be brave, find courage in your purpose to live bolder and brighter.

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