I have a strange question for you, but I promise that I have a valid reason for asking. Do you ever feel like you have nothing but a bunch of worthless, bad ideas?

That may seem like a heavy intro, but I want you to stick with me for a few minutes here and check out what I am trying to say. Deal? Alright, let’s roll into this thing…

We have all experienced an “idea block,” which is like writer’s block but only with ideas instead of words. Coming up with great ideas is not going to happen all of the time and sometimes the ideas that we come up with are just plain terrible. I am here now to tell you that this is ok and it only means that you are human. It’s time to challenge your current thinking and consider that those bad ideas can actually be a good thing.

Say what? You read that right, my friends so let’s keep going… Here are 3 quick reasons why bad ideas can actually end up being good for you:

1. Coming up with ideas is the result of effort.

When you make the effort to try something new or come up with something new, failure is imminent. This shouldn’t scare you or deter you from acting, it just is what it is. In terms of ideas, this means that all of your ideas will not be great ones, but it is still part of the process. Bad ideas can also be considered failed ones, but your victory lies in the fact that you are trying which is more than I can say for 90% of the people that you walk among every day. A bold statement, don’t you think? Now I have got your attention for the rest of this blog!

When you exert effort in coming up with ideas, this forces you to expand your thinking and consider new perspectives. This in itself will lead to even more ideas. Eventually, a good one will stand out amongst the rest and you will realize that coming up with good ideas is a numbers game, like selling and everything else. To simplify this thought, consider this: more ideas = more good ideas!

2. Bad ideas will cause you to change your approach.

If you continue to do the same thing day in and day out and you hate the outcome, stop doing whatever it is that you are doing! It absolutely blows my mind how many people I listen to who continue to fail over and over, never considering an altered approach. If your strategy sessions don’t produce the type of ideas that you are seeking, I have a few ideas for you to try. Change your environment. Talk to different people. Raise your expectations. Switch the time of day that you are working to come up with good ideas that are going to make a real difference in your business. I could really continue on here with another hundred ideas, but I think you get the point.

Again, this concept applies with outcomes of all kinds and it fits nicely into the “idea” topic here too. I test and test, constantly with my business to see what works and what doesn’t. I use this approach with all things in my life and I would recommend it to you too. If you can never seem to come up with good ideas, please start doing something….anything differently. Remember that what you are currently doing is not working!

3. Bad today could be 24k gold tomorrow.

One thing that I have learned is that the only constant that I see around me, is continuous change. It’s going to happen, so you might as well embrace it instead of pretending that it isn’t happening.

Think about this for a moment.

What seems like a garbage idea today may be an incredible idea 30 days from now when other variables in your situation have changed. This reminds me of an experience that I once had in the world of advertising sales. I was working for a large home services review company and I spoke to a service provider in Florida about doing an ad with me. The cost was $10,000 for 12 months of advertising, which equates to a medium-sized ad. The business owner went crazy on me yelling, screaming, and swearing about how ridiculous the price was. He said that he wouldn’t do it and actually hung up on me. The next morning he called me back and prepaid for the whole year’s advertising in one lump sum! To this day, I have no idea what transpired, but I know that his “bad” one day became 24k gold the next day.

Ideas are the same way.

A lot of things that we think of and want to implement, require an element of timing to get the best results. A bad idea today is worth remembering and even documenting because the timing may be off. No one can see the future of how ideas may or may not impact your business. Bad should become a relative term that really translates to “incompatible” for the time being.

My hope is that you look at ideas in a new way and that you pay special attention to today’s bad ideas, for tomorrow’s opportunities. Sometimes ideas are just bad, with no real value but not all of them will be this way. I am confident that good opportunities for growth slip through the cracks for us all. If we can capitalize on a few more of our ideas, then that is a win for everyone. You may only be one great idea away from a significant life change, but you will never know if you give up.

If you enjoyed reading this blog post, I encourage to you keep heading down this road. Think And Grow Rich is a book that I read that truly rewired the way that I think about things!

Check it out on Amazon below:





For some more great tips for entrepreneurs, check out this post 3 Steps to Eliminate the Fear of Failure.

Written by Jason Wright