The Spirit of Experimentation

February 29, 2012 2:09 PM

The best way to have a good idea is to have a hundred bad ones.

It’s a painful process, especially if we’ve gotten
accustomed to being good. But any seed to imagination, any ignition of pure
creation, is not just healthy and safe, but practical and necessary.

First, it gives us perspective. It humbles our creative
spirit. Second, bad ideas come in handy for other problems later. Nothing is
ever wasted; every idea eventually finds a home. And finally, our process of
experimentation helps create the elbow room for good ideas to emerge. All we
have to do is listen.

In the decade I’ve worked as a freelancer, I’ve had thousands of bad ideas. Horrible ones. Bordering on embarrassing. Several of
which were executed, poorly.

But out of that slush pile, I’ve also had maybe thirty or
forty really, really good ideas. Ideas that spread, ideas that made money,
ideas that made a difference. I believe there are no successes or
failures, only the consequences of our experiments.

We can never lose that spirit. We owe it to our creative
selves to set up a consequence free space for experimentation. A safe place
where we can boldly fiddle our way to the truth.

Thanks to the web, the cost of doing so is approaching zero.
We can run hundreds of experiments a day, if we want to.

But that’s the thing: We have to want to. It has to be
important to us.

Otherwise, if we’re not trying things, every day, until we
die, we’re not fully living.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How many experiments did you run yesterday?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “11 Things to Stop Wasting Your Time On,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting

[email protected]