HOW TO GENERATE IDEAS FOR GREATNESS

The mind maketh the man. Your mind is a generator of a sort – generator of ideas. That is why the book of Gog says, “guard your heart with all diligence for out of it are issues of life.” Psychologists also make us to understand that over 8, 000 ideas flow daily in our mind. What this implies is that the mind can never run dry of ideas. The mind is an inexhaustible well that cannot dry up. Orison Marden Sweet said: “The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.”
Among the over 8, 000 ideas in your mind are ideas for greatness. Just one of these ideas is enough to transform your life overnight forever! Ross Perot, the billionaire and former US presidential aspirant once said: “one single idea can make you live like a king for the rest of your life.”
What will make a person great is not money but an idea.
Many people do not appreciate the priceless gift – the mind -that God gives to them. If God were to give them a car, a bungalow or a jet, they would appreciate that better. But this ought not to be so. God would not do for you what you are supposed to do for yourself. God has given you the greatest tool you need to “have dominion over the earth.” That tool is your mind. There is no problem that confronts you that you cannot think your way through.
The major problem people have is that because they don’t value the mind given to them by the creator, they don’t trust their mind enough to generate. Even when these ideas suggest themselves or flash through their mind, they ignore them.
This is the reason for our under achievement. There is no idea that is not capable of greatness. Every idea contains the seed of greatness. It is how far you see the potentiality in the idea that matters. If you do not see any good in an idea, you are not likely going to do something positive about the idea.
For this reason, it is advisable that you have an open mind. Don’t discard any idea that comes to your mind. Welcome it. Have a notebook where you will be jotting down ideas. Jot as many ideas that come your way. Later, you can examine them critically, and when you do so, do not focus on the negative side only, consider the positive side as well. The danger of dwelling on the negative side of an idea is that it has the tendency of blinding you to the greatness that is embedded in the idea.
How narrowly people miss fortune because they fail to see the good in an idea. If you realise the potentialities embedded in a single idea, you will never discard any idea that come your way.
Do you know that importation of such seemingly insignificant item as toothpick has made some people millionaires in Nigeria? How many people ever thought that such an insignificant item can produce millionaires?
Sometime ago, I read an interview of a man who became a millionaire supplying olive oil to his church members. In the interview, he said he attended the church where olive oil was needed. An idea then occurred to him that he should be supplying the oil to his church members. Today, this man is swimming in millions.
If there is anything you must not lose sight of in this article, it is this: never ever ignore any idea that come your way without first critically examining it. Most times, there is nothing wrong with ideas that come our way; it is our perception of these ideas and what we do with them that are wrong. Now, consider this: “A wise man will make great opportunity out of the commonest situations.”
In conclusion, to generate ideas for greatness, you must –
a) Have an open mind. Be liberal in your approach to ideas that occur to you either in your mind or elsewhere. Assemble the ideas by jotting them down in a notebook.
b) Examine critically every idea that comes your way. Examine them objectively and dispassionately. Never let any idea go until you have subjected it to the cross-fire of critical examination. Examine the negative, but consider the positive aspect of an idea as well.
c) Be humble when dealing with ideas. If you are proud, you will never be in a position to see the greatness enclosed in an idea. This is because an idea that holds the seed of greatness is not obvious to the naked eye. If you are in a habit of finding fault with an idea on impulse, it is possible you might have missed a lot of opportunities for greatness. What some people despises and ignores, is what others use to surpass their contemporaries!
GREATNESS IS EMBBEDED IN LITTLE AND SEEMINGLY INSIGNIFICANT IDEAS. ONLY THOSE WHO CAN SEE BEYOND THE INSIGNIFICANCE WILL ACHIEVE FAME AND FORTUNE.