Originally posted June 2, 2015
My New Favorite Book…
My new favorite book…it isn’t on surviving corporate change. It isn’t on manifesting your dreams. It isn’t fifty shades of anything! I picked it up in the children’s section and it’s written by Kobi Yamada and illustrated by Mae Besom, What Do You Do With An Idea?
The story tells it brilliantly…to always remember, a single idea can change everything.
As most beautifully illustrated in the book, we sometimes don’t know how to move an idea forward. What would it actually look like? What would we need to do? We worry about what others will think. We try to push it away.
But what happens when your idea just keeps popping up? What do you feel when you think about the idea? What happens when others don’t believe in the idea and shoot it down? We often listen to the nay-sayers. But the idea follows us around, sometimes for decades. We can’t shake it.
So, what do you do with an idea? Most of the time, we do nothing. We have become almost trained not to share ideas anymore. In the workplace, we get shot down…that won’t work…why change it…what are you, stupid? Personally, we may share an idea only to hear…that won’t work…why change it…what are you, stupid?
It’s not surprising that our next move may include putting our tail between our legs, feeling ashamed and slinking away. Perhaps we feel completely deflated. Perhaps we’re mad that someone is squashing our dream.
It’s not always easy for us to stand up for ourselves (what I like to call standing in our own power) and simply say, thanks for your feedback and continue pursuing your idea.
What would happen if you chose to fully embrace your ideas?
One of my favorite lines in the book…
It encouraged me to think big…
and then, to think bigger.
Sometimes the biggest ideas are the smallest. And those small ideas (or big ones) can change the world.
Last Thursday evening, I attended the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic‘s 10th Anniversary Gala entitled…THINK BIG! We even had a THINK BIG! Honoree! What’s fascinating is that when Lauren Deutsch of the Jazz Institute of Chicago asked jazz trumpeter and music educator, Orbert Davis, and business partner, Mark Ingram, to perform at the 2008 Chicago Jazz Fest, she told them to ‘think big.’ Well, these are two men who never shy away from an idea, so to them, think big meant creating a 60 piece jazz symphonic orchestra, and the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic was born, the only 3rd stream (equally combining both classical and jazz genres) orchestra in the nation and one of only two in the world! I guess that’s thinking pretty big!
If someone said to you to, THINK BIG, what ideas would you have?
What might happen in this world if this book was required bed time reading for every single child?
Yep, you could say it’s just a children book. But read it. Share it…with children and adults. And embrace your ideas no matter how crazy they might seem. (Please don’t hurt yourself or others with your idea!) Think big and then…think bigger!
Here’s to all your blissful ideas! Can’t wait to hear what happens!!
Lesley Picchietti, CPC, ACC, ELI-MP
© Inspire Bliss Coaching and Consulting 2015
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