The first idea

Yesterday, I’ve spoken about how the first idea is often not the best idea. And yet, sometimes it is.

The problem is that when that happens, we usually don’t know it. We have that feeling that there must be something better out there. Something funnier, smoother, edgier … 

Only that there isn’t.

Which can feel very frustrating when we’ve produced 100 ideas, none of which felt like an improvement. When, after 100 iterations, we discover that the first idea is still the best, it feels like we have wasted our time.

We didn’t, of course.

We could only find out that the first idea was already the best idea after ruling out all the other possibilities. We couldn’t know that earlier. Now we know: the first idea really is the best idea. Which gives us the confidence we were lacking at the beginning of our quest.

Even if the first idea is the best, move beyond.