Madeline
The Originals is not just stories of but also a kind of “how to” guide on how to think against the norm and create an original idea. My reasoning for wanting to read this book is not only the enrepeneral side of me that wants to create something successful but also the part of me that seems to have few, if any, original ideas. This is a short recap of what I have learned.
Creative Destruction
The book starts pretty much where it is expected to start, discussing some cases where originality paid off. But then it takes a quick turn to discuss why people are afraid to be original. This includes prodigies who are so use to being ooo’ed and ahhh’ed that when they grow into adulthood, where they are expected to make a big difference, their impact falls flat. The fear of not being who everyone thought they would grow up to be, ends up being their demise to think against the norm.
Blind Inventors and One-Eyed Investors
If people, including myself, are afraid of being originals than how do we break that fear? By generating lots of ideas. If you keep a list of ideas over a month over anything and everything that comes to mind, you might end up with 900 ideas (about 30 a day) of all these 900 ideas there may only be a handful of good ideas. But by identifying the best of the 900, you will be in a good position to execute that idea.
To help more generate more ideas, start skill stacking, a term heard I’ve heard a lot about in The Jordan Harbinger Show. The idea is that the more “random” skills that you put together, the more random and therefore original ideas that will come forward. So, learn a new skill or at least the basics and that will put you in a great place for original ideas.
Out on a Limb – Speaking Truth to Power
Original ideas are generally original because they feel so out of the blue and like they will never work. To think against the norm by definition, will be something that is difficult to convince others that it is a good idea. This is where the persuasion part of executing on the original idea. In order to persuade people, you need status. To get status you need to either show that you are capable above the rest or the opposite, that you are able to relate to the people to be persuaded.
Fools Rush In – Timing, Strategic Procrastination, and the First – Mover Disadvantage
Moving quickly may be the death of execution. To be successful, take your time, look for opportunities that may help with execution, turn things on its head and try it out. Thinking through things to be sure it is the right approach is more important than acting quickly. That being said, procrastination could lead to the ultimate never starting of a project and therefore death to it.
Goldilocks and the Trojan Horse
Original ideas push the envelope but they don’t push them so far as to push everyone away. Original ideas are crazy enough for them to be far fetched but not so crazy that no one will ever buy it. For example, avoid any messaging that implies “camping out” or doing something few would want to do, such as with the “Occupy Wall Street” campaign. To think against the norm takes strange and wild ideas but not the kind that eliminates large amounts of people.
Rebel with a Cause – How Siblings, Parents, and Mentors Nurture Originality
How we are brought up may have something to do with how original we are, if we are able to think against the norm, and how willing we are to take risks. For example, baseball players who are more likely to steal bases, a risky move in baseball, are more likely to be in the middle or the youngest of a number of other children.
Rethinking Groupthink
If all television shows were chosen 100% based on group opinion, you would never know the show Seinfeld. The group who rated the show thought it was unrelatable and didn’t have any direction. That is because it was a new concept and the people who rated it were asked to critique it rather than enjoy it like the rest of America would later do. Basically, although feedback is great, don’t make all decisions based on majority feedback.
Rocking the Boat and Keeping it Steady – Managing Anxiety, Apathy, Ambivalence, and Anger
There are two kinds of people who deal with the anxiety of starting something original, the pessimists and the optimists. Reason tells us that the optimist is the way to be; however, studies have shown that the pessimist wins out. Instead of saying everything will be okay, the pessimist looks at all the angles and makes adjustments that will course correct which is more likely to result in a successful original idea.
