how to overcome idea-to-idea syndrome

I am definitely suffering from this at the moment, very easy to get caught up with new ideas and distract yourself when you have a project that you know will take a long time and be lots of work. Love the chart especially.



A surplus of ideas is as dangerous as a drought.

Idea-to-idea syndrome is the tendency to launch new ideas while still executing other ideas. As soon as an idea becomes an active project, we become burdened by the minutia of execution. Long days and late nights cause us to get lost in what I have come to call the "project plateau"—the part of a project when excitement and energy run low and the end is still out of sight. The quickest escape from the project plateau is simple. Conceive a new idea. Immediately, when you get excited about something new and shiny, your hopes lift as your creative juices kick in. But, as a result, your previous idea is left stranded in the project plateau amidst other carcasses of abandoned ideas.

You know someone is plagued with idea-to-idea syndrome when they have multiple active-yet-abandoned projects. There will always be one project—the latest one—that is getting the spotlight. And then, soon, another idea will take its place.



How to develop an immune system.


Your body is protected by a powerful immune system that, when it is working properly, kills off anything foreign. Viruses and other foreign pathogens meet a swift death. Similarly, as a creative individual, you will need to develop an immune system that kills off premature or distracting ideas. Of course, when you're actually brainstorming, you will want to suppress your immune system to allow for the free-flow of ideas good and bad, but during day-to-day execution, only your immune system will fend off a bout of idea-to-idea syndrome.


Thomas Edison knew what he was talking about when he famously quipped, "genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." He was saying that all great achievements are the result of tireless execution. Inspiration should be, to some degree, restrained—especially for those of us who are addicted to it.


The greatest partnerships in the creative world involve a balance of dreamers and doers. Dreamers are motivated by visions of the future while doers are focused on the task at hand and get nervous when anything new gets in the way. By hiring and empowering skeptics to be critical and challenge our love for new ideas, we can keep long-term projects alive.


If you work solo, then try to involve "sober monitors" when you consider new ideas. We all know people that don't get high on inspiration and prefer to live a more grounded and cautious existence. Truth is, we typically exclude them from our creative endeavors. They're just not as fun. However, their role is absolutely critical when it comes to making ideas happen.

from Scott Belsky's Making Good Ideas Happen