#yearonpaper | 03: big ideas

i’m suffering through monday right now. it’s cold and windy and my to-do is mostly the anxiety inducing stuff i put off last month (making calls, health insurance, dealing with apartment maintenance people. basic adulting, ya know? i don’t like it, I DON’T!) so i’m avoiding it a little longer with today’s journal entry, about big ideas. the kind that take hold and motivate, and maybe even change things. when you basically have a thought like, “the world needs ___”, and just as quickly realize YOU can provide it. i had an idea like that recently, so i dedicated a few pages to working it out and giving it the time it deserved, whether or not i go for it in the end (though all signs say yes). 

while thinking of this idea i realized just how many parallels it had to my past big ideas, starting from my early teens or even younger. i’d have ideas about what i’d be creating when i was older, how i’d own my own shop (maybe online, maybe real-life), how i’d help other people get their names and their art out there, etc etc. writing about my latest idea – and if not this one it will be another – i started to think of how it helped bring it all together, from those little thoughts on crafting to the kind of things i write about on the blog market that help other people bring their ideas to fruition.

when you work out your latest big idea (or most memorable one, that you didn’t pursue but always wanted to) you’ll likely find the same thing. and if you don’t, it might lead you to another big idea, or to realize why the ideas you’re pursing NOW (the curiosities you’re following) make more sense than the latest. that is especially helpful for those of us who have lots of ideas, constantly, like me, and the desire to pursue them all (which often leads to loose ends hanging every which way).

what’s your big idea? how does it relate to other ideas you’ve had? (think way back) is now the right time for this idea? (what will happen if you don’t pursue it? will someone else? will it be too late?) are you solving a problem with your idea? (you don’t have to of course) have a brainstorm session before you write it off or run with it.