I hate to break it to you, but your big idea is worthless.

You know, that idea you’ve had for a book, or business, or product. The one you’ve talked about for years. The one your family/friends/coworkers are sick of hearing about. Yeah, that one.

Now, it’s not worthless because it’s a bad idea. It’s actually pretty cool.

And it’s not worthless because you are incapable of pulling it off. You actually have a decent chance.

It’s worthless because it’s just an idea.

And unless you act on it, it will remain just that… an idea with potential.

Now, you might hear that and think “Oh, you think it has potential? That’s great!”

No, that’s not great. There is no value in potential.

I get asked all the time, “Do you think my idea has potential?”

“I feel like I have so much potential, why aren’t I more successful?”

“Do I have the potential to be a successful author/entrepreneur/athlete?”

“But my employee has so much potential, I don’t want to give up on him. What should I do?”

Potential is worth as much as a grain of sand on the beach, and it’s just as common.

Everybody and everything has potential.

I meet people who have an idea for a business and who love to talk about how much potential it has. They describe it in an excited voice and hope that I’m as excited as they are.

I’m not.

No matter how good their idea is, it’s worthless as long as it remains just an idea.

It takes action to create value.

The idea that “potential” is rare and valuable actually holds us back. Because it feels so good to have a great idea that we don’t want to ruin it by actually trying and failing. It’s much more comfortable to just imagine what could be.

Imagine if the founding fathers had sat around and just talked about independence from Britain. “It could be amazing” they’d say. “Imagine if we were self-governing!” “So much potential…”

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The sad thing is that by keeping your idea perfect and safe inside your head, everybody loses.

You lose because you don’t get to experience and learn from the journey of creation. Your life could be transformed by the challenges you’d have to overcome and the lessons you’d have to learn if you just took action.

The people close to you lose because they don’t get a front row seat to watch you turn your idea into something real. By acting on your big idea, you would show them that they can act on theirs.

And the rest of us lose because we never get to read your book, or buy your product, or hear your story.

The world is a worse place because you’ve kept your idea an idea.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can actually do something with your big idea. Write the first chapter, find your first customer, make the prototype… do something.

Your big idea is worthless as long as it remains just an idea. It deserves better. You deserve better. The world deserves better.

Start something today.

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