Your idea's stupid, you're an idiot and you'll fail

One of the biggest problems with starting a new business, or a new project or activity in an existing business, is that other people (and sometimes even you, yourself) will expect the idea to fail before you even start.

People will go out of their way to tell you that your idea won't work or you aren't capable of making it work, and too often you may end up agreeing with them, making excuses to convince yourself that you will fail, and as a result avoid the opportunity to give your idea or venture a try.

Does any of this sound familiar? Have you heard or made any of the following excuses yourself?

• You aren't educated or clever enough.
• You're too young.
• You're too old.
• You haven't got the guts.
• You don't have enough money.
• You don't have enough time.
• You haven't got the credibility.
• You haven't got what it takes.
• There's no demand.
• There's too much competition.
• You haven't got the talent.
• You won't handle the pressure.
• You can't take the responsibility.
• You're too disorganised.

These are all common and widespread prejudices or excuses that other people or even you will make for not pursuing your idea. But there's not a single valid reason why any of these excuses should be true.

A famous example of this was when an American entrepreneur called Fred Smith decided he would start up an overnight express courier service. Everyone told him he was crazy and would fail. "There's no market", "You'll never find enough reliable couriers", "If there was a market for it someone else would already have done it" were just some of the things he was told. But he went ahead and did it anyway, and now everyone all over the world uses his service - Federal Express.

People will tell you that your idea is daft, but if you do your research, stick to what you believe in, think outside of the boundaries that are set by others, and take calculated, measured risks, then you can put yourself on the right path towards making your idea happen.

To get you on the right track, here is a ten-step action plan that could help you with your quest to get your idea successfully off the ground.

1) Spend some time each week (a couple of hours will be enough) developing your knowledge and improving your skills, even for the things that you can do already.

2) Find half an hour each day to be on your own to plan and focus on your priorities.

3) Learn to be dependent on yourself, and make sure you don't always have to rely on others for what is vital or important to you.

4) Distance yourself from a peer group that is holding you back or doesn't want you to succeed.

5) Be prepared to lead yourself and others down an unfamiliar road.

6) Be prepared to face criticism from others at all times. Don't ignore it, but also don't let yourself be knocked off course by it.

7) Continually set yourself achievable goals that WON'T bring you any immediate or material reward.

8) Personally ensure you will give up any current bad habits and beliefs about what is right or expected to work.

9) Make sure you're prepared to let others who work for you make mistakes without fear of blame, and share out the credit for your own success with anyone who deserves it.

10) Have unlimited curiosity about things inside and outside of your world or industry. Subscribe to newsletters, join networks, read books or book extracts, follow online training programmes, and try to have lunch with other successful people in the field you want to enter.

And then see if your idea is really all that daft, after all.

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