Time. If only time could keep up with the birthrate of my ideas, then maybe I’d have a stronger feeling of accomplishment. Unfortunately, I get so many ideas that I only have time for a fraction of them — which results in a feeling of underachievement. Know the feeling? Of course, the reality of it is that I’m a workaholic and I am achieving things, thankfully always learning new methods to increase my productivity. The irony of it is that increased productivity means I have more time to get new ideas. So a feeling of underachievement remains the same. The curse of the creative breed.

So what can one do? Do you concentrate your gray matter on only a selected few ideas with the possibility of one of them taking off as something extraordinary — or do you spend time on as many as you can with the possibility that they’ll all fall into the shadow of eachother, each receiving limited attention and therefore never becoming a finished product?

I try to take the third approach, which is a combination of both: Don’t stick to a certain plan in these matters, maintain balance. Weigh each idea individually. Some of my ideas are long lasting projects while others receive limited attention and for the most part remain a written word, locked away in one of my many black books. This has worked out ok, aside from the problem I originally stated above on feelings — which can thankfully be partially overpowered by logic.

But a key element is writing down the ideas. As many as I can (I shudder at the thought of how many ideas I didn’t write down and have now forgotten … and have no idea I ever had). Often I read notes that I wrote a few years ago and find that I’ve outgrown them somewhat fierce — some even cause a small chuckle. Others remain intriguing, and this is actually a great way to identify how good your ideas are. If they survive a few years in a black book without execution, and are still good when you read them again — then they’re probably worth your precious time. By doing this you also automatically get better at identifying key elements of good ideas, and key elements of bad ideas. Gradually, you’ll gain a deeper sense of which of your ideas are good, a lot faster.