Robin Blandford
AWESOMENESS METHODOLOGY - A group of us made up "rules of professional etiquette" for a youth group about 10 years ago. The second rule of professional etiquette was "Protect Your Cadets".... Cadets were the youngest members of the group, and everybody's job was to protect them. Make sure they survive until they are strong enough to protect the new Cadets. And so, with awesome idea generation Step 3 is about protection. Protecting your "tiny little idea babies".
All of you reading. All of your scribbles. All of your notes. All of your thinking. All of this is about one thing - storing up MASSIVE potential energy. Generating enough positive thought armoury, enough defensive thinking, enough mind walls to block negativity. When someone comes at your idea baby, you're going to be able to protect it with common-sense thinking, case studies, and evidence.
The easiest thing for anyone to do, is to stamp on your idea while it's small. While it's too small to defend itself. Some people make a habit of doing this to ideas - killing them off. Actually, I'm convinced some people, the people who don't have their own good ideas, actually get a thrill from killing others ideas.
This isn't about retaliating or defending - always remember advice is not a debate - this is about your own internal dialogue. The only person who can kill your idea in your mind is you. While you remain confident about an idea - it is still alive. Once you loose confidence in it - it's all over.
So read, talk, think a lot. Build up your massive potential energy store - and have it ready in your mind to keep yourself with the glass overflowing - not just half full.
