The other day I was perusing through my saved articles in my Globe and Mail app. One of them stood out because it reminded me of something that happened when I was in high school. This article, titled “Do you have what it takes to innovative?“, was written by Peter Aceto. Mr. Aceto is the president and chief executive officer at Tangerine Bank.
His article essentially stated that true innovators have the drive and perseverance to turn their ideas into reality. How many times have we heard or said ourselves, “I thought of that before”, when we see a revolutionary product or service? A follow up statement would then be, “I should’ve acted on that idea.” I’m sure many of you have witnessed or experienced it.
This is what happened to me rather recently, except it was not me who came up with the great idea. It was created by one of my chums in school.
He came up with an idea to invent a remotely piloted aerial vehicle that could be used by law enforcement agencies. It’s function would be reconnaissance of potentially dangerous situations. Does that sound familiar?
The use of aerial drones has increased exponentially. Anyone can buy one. Their prices range from the relatively inexpensive and up.
You’re probably wondering why he didn’t follow through with his idea. It was (or is) an excellent and rather versatile idea. It’s uses has gone well beyond law enforcement. They now have commercial and industrial applications. They are also increasingly being used by hobbyist. Having an idea which had such a great potential, it is unlikely that anyone would not follow through with it. Well, the actual reason why he didn’t materialise it was he gave up too easily. He discovered a technological problem and didn’t bother to find a solution around it. He accepted the premise as an impossible one.
Today we all know just how possible aerial drones are. Which is probably evident of someone else possibly encountering the same or similar technological problem and finding a solution for it. This is the essence of Mr. Aceto’s article, inventors demonstrating perseverance to overcome any obstacles they may encounter and turing their ideas into reality. His article also states a natural tendency for people to give up when they do encounter a problem. He even goes further by indicating that some people will even create a hypothetical problem or constraint, which would lead to the same result of giving up. This made up problem or constraint may not even be applicable but it is treated as an excuse to quit.
I don’t know why people generally do that but I have witnessed it a number of times. My advice for anyone whom may feel the need to give up is simple. Focus on the goal and only the goal! If you do encounter an obstacle then the only thought you should have is, what is needed to get past or around that obstacle? As I’ve stated in a previous post, ‘Know Yourself and Your Performance‘, when you encounter an obstacle you should determine if you have the capabilities to resolve it. If you don’t then you should determine who would have the required capabilities. I have on many occasions enlisted the help from people who had the required skillsets to resolve the problem. Again, I did what it took to achieve the goal.
Even though I’m giving advice about turning an idea into a product, this advice could also be used developing an innovative service, procedure, or process. It’s all interchangeable.
Achieving the goal of turning your idea into reality becomes even more satisfying when you’ve overcame obstacles to get there, in addition to the success of your idea. With the numerous drones flying around, and their numbers increasing, I’m sure my chum from high school has thought to himself “I should have followed through on that idea”.
Until the next time!
Productivity Aspects 