How To Turn Your Idea Into A Reality

Not Just An Idea

As you know, once upon a time the car and motorbike were just clever ideas. So too was the wheel, for that matter. Of course there was a time when things like space travel, the internet, Facebook, the Harry Potter series and even mundane things like long-life milk were just wacky concepts floating around in the minds of some very creative and clever people – people who identified a need or opportunity and came up with an idea. A concept. A possibility.

A potential something.

A Business Idea

I remember having an idea to open Australia’s first Personal Training centre in 1987. Of course, I didn’t invent PT but at that time there were no such places in this country (stand-alone commercial PT facilities). In my mind, the idea seemed to be a good one. The business itself took a few years to materialise – we opened the doors in 1990 – but nonetheless, despite my lack of skills, experience and maturity, we got the job done.

The idea in my head became a physical reality and we went on to train thousands of people and give jobs to hundreds of people over more than two decades. For me, the creating-a-business process was a terrifying, euphoric, educational and transformational one. Despite my (mildly) academic background, I have always been an experiential learner. That is, I learn best when I’m thinking less and doing more. And now, every day when I walk into Harper’s (my PT centre) to do my daily workout, I walk into a 10,000 square foot physical representation of what was once a simple non-physical idea in my head. An idea, by the way, that many people said wouldn’t work.

Pfft.

More Ideas

I went through a similar process when I decided to write my first book. It was yet another idea. One of many. Like you, I have plenty. In fact, it was more than that. I had an incredibly vivid mental concept of what my book would look like, read like and achieve when it was done – and that was before I had typed my first word. Once I knew what I wanted to do, I simply sat at my computer and started writing – despite the fact that I wasn’t a ‘writer’ (I figured all writers must write their first book at some stage). And despite the fact that I didn’t have a publisher or any clues about how publishing worked. Despite the fact that I’d never written anything longer than a gym program. Despite the fact that my typing speed was an electrifying eight words per minute. And despite the fact that I was working eighty to ninety hours per week running my business.

For me, the sense of achievement in writing a book came mostly from seeing the finished product in my hand for the first time. Sure, it’s nice to sell books and for the original idea to become a commercial success but I’ve always gained the most satisfaction from doing what I set out to. From turning my mental something into a physical something.

A Weight-Loss Idea

As a teenager, I had one constant idea: lose weight.
It dominated my thinking. After having the idea thousands of times, I had an experience that flicked my action switch. Of course, I always had the potential to lose weight and transform my body and reality but, for a range of reasons, I didn’t. Finally, the idea became a reality. I stopped thinking and started doing. I wanted it enough.

A Stupid Idea?

Of course, there was a time when this blog, this electronic-pit-stop of inspiration, motivation and education was nothing more than an idea. A concept. And, I must be totally honest; it wasn’t even my idea. It was Johnnie’s (my business partner). He ran the idea past me and I must admit, I wasn’t excited about it. At all. I possibly even thought the idea sucked.

So, being the stubborn f*cker that he is, he ignored my lack of enthusiasm, walked out the door and, over the following two days, created a mock website (blog) complete with some articles that I had written (for magazines) and a few well-chosen pictures. Forty-eight hours later he walked into my office with his laptop (with that smarmy look on his face) and said “I want you to take a look at something”.

Five minutes later I was a blogger.

Okay, I never said I was clever. And I never said I had a monopoly on the good ideas. Sometimes in life, success or failure comes down to what we do – or don’t do – with our ideas.

What’s your idea?