Whenever you brainstorm with people in a corporate setting they always say, “There are no bad ideas.”
That is stupid.
Because there are some bad ideas. There are a lot of bad ideas. Of the two, awesome ideas or bad ideas, the bad far outweigh the awesome. Like this idea I saw on 9gag.
That is a horrible idea. That dream is ridiculous. I think my favorite part is that he believes the ocean is essentially a lot of street salt plus water.
But how do you know if your idea is a bad idea?
You talk to friends and you be patient.
Too simple? Allow me to unpack it a bit.
If you want to know if your idea is good or bad, do the following:
1. Talk to 6 friends. If all 6 are confused, doubtful, terrified for you, it might be bad.
2. Talk to your most realistic friend. I hate this person. Sometimes they feel like they are dreamsnatchers. They are not. Ask that friend.
3. Ask your most supportive, throws up rainbows they are so positive friend. If even they think it’s bad, it might be bad.
4. Give it time. A sign of a really bad idea is that we rush to bring it to life. I think we do this out of the fear that if we were deliberate and took our time, we’d realize it was a dumb idea.
Is this system perfect? Of course not. I would have told the Instagram creators that we probably already had too many apps. But 9 times out of 10, if you’re being wildly impatient and can’t get a single person to get interested in the idea, you might have a “whiskey & dolphin park” on your hands.
Question:
How do you spot a bad idea?