No one’s put a microphone in front of me lately, so I wanted to pop on here and remind people this: Your ideas are good. Maybe not all of them, but at least some of them. Write them down. Think about how you could make them happen. Think about who might be excited to help you.

Sure, some people will say your idea is dumb. Some of those people will be your friends. Smile as if they support you and keep talking to people. If you think there’s a chance you can do it, then try. Be ready to fail. Failure isn’t bad. Not trying is bad. Living your life on other people’s terms is bad. Doing what you’re told without questioning why things are the way they are is bad.

When I was a kid, an adult family member took me shopping. We had to walk through a sea of cars to get where we were going. I said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if all the cars belonged to everyone and you could just drive a car until you don’t need it and then someone else can use it after you?” The adult guffawed at this idea, saying it was impossible to manage and it’s normal for us to have our own cars. I followed suit and decided it was dumb.

Fast forward less than a decade. Enter Zipcar (merged with Flexcar, which began in 1998), Car2go, and ReachNow if you’re fancy. Self-driving cars will likely reach the masses before my lifetime is over, and everything will change again.

Who would tell the innovators of these and other life-enhancing technologies that their ideas are dumb? What value do naysayers get from dismissing ideas they can’t see? More importantly, what value does a person with an idea get from listening to them?

Yes, there will be what-ifs. Man, I’ve heard so many what-ifs. (I’m sure I’m surround by people who have heard many more.) What if you go broke? What if you get sued? What if you crash and burn? … And what if a nuclear war happens tomorrow and we all die? Then it really won’t matter! Of course, try to get ahead of issues and have mitigation plans for them. That’s not a reason not to try, that’s just a reason to plan better.

In short, your ideas are good. Even if you think they’ll remain ideas, try discussing them with people and you may be surprised. Also, you may open yourself to hearing someone else’s idea, and you can be the one to help them make it good. When we can talk to each other without being afraid of mocking and dismissal, society moves forward.

Thanks for reading. Be excellent to each other!