I Have an Idea!

Sarah's got an idea about ideas! 

Do you have an idea that you'd like some help with? Maybe you need to sort out what comes next? Help with refinement? A coach to help you lay out a plan to take action? Whatever stage your idea is in, Sarah wants to help. 

Learn more about Spark Sessions by emailing Sarah: hello@sarahwarman.com, or DM her via Instagram @sarahonpurpose

IG: @sarahonpurpose

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Is that what I'm supposed to say? You're supposed to say whatever you want to say. Okay. Say hi, sister. Hi. How do you like being my very first guest ever on the podcast? It's awesome. What do you uh what do you think I should talk about today? I don't know. You always have so many good ideas. Well, all right then. Let me clear my throat. This episode is called I Have an Idea. Or more accurately, I have an idea with a big fat exclamation point. Because I love ideas, okay? Like I love ideas so much that I would marry ideas if I could. In my humble opinion, there's nothing better than an aha moment. Is there anything more life-giving than being struck by creative lightning? I don't think so. But even though my love for ideas is deep and real, if I had to choose a relationship status, I guess it would have to be it's complicated. I mean, I get ideas all the time. Like all day long, but I'm also a hoarder of ideas. I like the feeling of a good idea, but usually I just let them sit and collect dust in my brain. Knowing which ones are legit and when or how to execute on an idea, well, that's where I tend to get stuck. So this episode is for you if you have a big crush on an idea you can't stop thinking about, or if you have multiple ideas but you don't know which idea to choose. It's also for you if you can't tell if your idea is worth the trouble, or if you're just fresh out of ideas completely. Okay. You know the reason this podcast exists in the first place is because of an idea. I'm sure that's obvious, duh. But the reason it comes out on Wednesday is because of an idea too. It's actually an homage to something I took away from my least favorite job. On paper, the job was great. In practice, it sucked ass. Because I sat next to probably the worst human ever. Let's call her Bimberly. Because of her, I only lasted the job about six months. Is there a few things I'd like to say to old Bim if I had the chance? Of course. But it's been 20 years, and she probably did me a favor. That place wasn't really for me. But what saved me while I worked there is a thing I never forgot. It was called WOW Wednesday. What WOW Wednesday was was every Wednesday morning, early, there'd be this big, cross-company, non-mandatory meeting. Again, totally optional. You didn't have to go. There was one person that could come from each department. But once you were there, you did have to participate. At first, I went for the free bagels and to get away from Bimberly for an hour. But then it turned into something I really look forward to. The premise of the meeting was you got to bring a problem for your department that you were working on or an idea that you were just kind of struggling with. And then you got to hold a no-holds barred, rapid-fire brainstorming session on it. But you were only allowed to contribute ideas if you didn't work in that department or know anything about the project at all. So then at the end of the session, you'd get tons of fresh ideas with a new perspective and solutions you might not have come up with on your own because you were trying a little too hard to figure it all out. Wow! Right? Here are some things I've learned from that, and then continued to experience in the last couple of decades, because I've been researching ideas and creativity for a long time. Ideas really do come to us, not the other way around. Have you ever tried to force yourself to come up with a great idea and then your mind just goes blank, only to find you get hit over the head with it when you're just sitting there minding your own business? Like if you're taking a shower or doing anything but trying to come up with an idea. Yeah, same. Because that's how brains work. Ideas don't care about timing, and inspiration doesn't hold regular hours. So that's good news if you're out of ideas, because they are out there. But you do have to let ideas know that they're welcome. You just have to set the table. They're kind of like little divas like that. But you also have to give them directions to the house. You know what I mean? I mean, how can they come to the party if they don't know where they're going? It was also a great reminder to me, and still is, that we actually need bad ideas. Not all of those ideas were winners at Wow Wednesday by any means. But the more ideas we have, the easier it is to find good ones. So let's stop giving ourselves shit for not coming up with the world's greatest idea right away. Sometimes a lot of ideas is what helps you find the one you're really looking for. Also, no one was stressed about offering ideas that had been done before. Maybe you get caught in this same trap like I do, wondering if your thing would even be worth it because somebody else is already doing something similar. I think I say this for both of us. That's a trash way to look at it. There's so rarely an idea that's never been done before, because it's almost all been done. But there is always room for authentic expression or for an original perspective. Only you can give that. A perspective only you can give. Okay, now this is a big one. Ideas can and often are made better when they're collaborative, but sometimes they're made worse. Do you ever have a great idea and tell everybody all about it only to realize you actually never do anything with your idea? This is advice I'm gonna give you because it took me a long time to learn this one. I might even still be learning it. Did you know that you get a huge hit of dopamine when you talk about your idea and it tricks you into feeling like you already did it? Psychologists study this. They say that this feeling is what prevents you from doing the actual work. And yeah, I feel personally attacked because that's me 99% of the time, just enjoying talking about it because it focuses on all the fun stuff, the vision. It completely ignores the messy and sometimes very unsexy things required to bring an idea to life. So, yeah, that's been an issue with me for sure. And I think a part of me knows that an idea will always remain perfect if it just stays in my head. But if I ever wanted to make something real, well, it turns out structure and discipline are my new BFFs. So at the end of the day, I think ideas probably want us to know that they would love a little less talk and a lot more action. And for someone who falls in love with her own ideas but rarely executes, it's kind of a tough lesson to learn. And I think that's why our ideas eventually leave us or don't have the same zzz they used to. They want to find somebody who's gonna take action. So don't tell everyone your idea. You kind of have to be stealth. Or what about this? Have you ever had an awesome idea and the person you told didn't get it, so you kind of lost steam? Or worse, the people you told told you it was bad. Guilty. Some people shit on our ideas, and it's hard to have confidence in the idea to see if it has any legs. There's been tons of occasions in my life where I feel like I have a great idea, but then I didn't feel qualified to let it materialize or thought I had to stay within the confines of the rules that were already in place based on the way people reacted to me. I think a little example of this might be in my coaching practice. Twelve years ago, when I was getting certified, I had this little idea in mind. What if you could do coaching in a group, but make it fun? Like have drinks and apps and make it a mini party for yourself. It would be so cute, right? And you could call it coaching in a cocktail. So I brought this brilliant idea up in front of my whole group, and the leaders started clutching their pearls. You can't have alcohol and coach at the same time. So what was I dumb? Because I couldn't let go of the idea that I thought my friends would love a smart way to get together and still have fun, have a cocktail, have a happy hour, and learn some stuff about themselves. Not to share some deep dark secrets or anything, but you know, not just sit around there and around the bar and talk trash. Well, some time went by, a couple of years, and the ideas still kind of poked at me. And eventually I thought I would do it anyway. I mean, I felt nervous, but some ideas, actually some of the best ones, can actually be quite rebellious. Somebody said this, I don't know who. Creativity is the greatest act of rebellion in existence. I guess what's coming clear to me now, you guys, as I try to understand what ideas are really worth pursuing, is it's not really just the idea that we're weighing. We're often trying to negotiate it around inspiration and priorities, purpose and values, and then feelings of guilt or even fear, which kind of sounds like coaching. So, in the spirit of everything I've learned, my love of ideas, the rebellious nature of ideas, and what our ideas really mean, I have an idea. Something I would like to offer. Everyone in the coaching world wants us to get long-term commitments out of the people we work with. Six months or even a year with clients. And I get it. Real transformation doesn't happen overnight. But this, what I'm talking about, this isn't that. What if all you needed was clarity on one thing? What if you just needed a little spark? One hour, no commitment, and decision making that feels clean. Maybe you have something big or something small. Maybe you have a question, an idea, or a creative roadblock, and you're just looking for the next best step. Maybe all you need is help cutting out the clutter and finding something that feels like you. Well, dun dun dun, that's where I come in. Let's give your idea some air. Let's call it spark sessions. Oh my god, do you love it? Do you love it? Because I do. Spark sessions. Now, this is not about knowing how it all turns out. Nobody can tell you that or help you with that. But that's not why we follow through on ideas. Maybe the box you're thinking in is just too small. Maybe we need to get you a bigger one. Or maybe we need to break the box down and just like fucking recycle it. Spark sessions. What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Email me at hello at Sarahwarman.com. Because everybody knows you can't start a fire without a spark. So this guns for hire. Even if we're just dancing in the dark. Hey. Alright, you guys. I'm taking a week off next week. Um, but I'll be back after that. And I think that's gonna be the last episode of the season. So stick around and yeah, email me. Let's talk about Spark sessions. Should we do it? Okay, bye.