How long does an idea take to birth?
One useful rule of thumb is to give yourself 50 percent more time to work through the kinks than intuition suggests, and only then to seriously consider abandoning the venture.
Adam Alter • Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
This is why I say it takes decades—I’m not saying it takes decades to execute, but the better part of a decade may be figuring out what you can uniquely provide. [10]
Tim Ferriss • The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
It feels like it will never come together—and then it does. Just hanging in there through that development phase, that messy phase, is so important.
Helen Sword • Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write
Making things is hard and I feel like that’s the most useful thing to say about it. You have to try to be consistent, you have to practice constantly, you have to read, and you can’t make yourself be interested in topics you aren’t interested in. And you have to accept that it’s always going to be challenging. My friend said this about her work, wh... See more
Ava • Making Things Is Hard
What was the idea supposed to do, sit around indefinitely while I ignored it? Maybe. Sometimes they do wait. Some exceedingly patient ideas might wait years, or even decades, for your attention. But others won’t, because each idea has a different nature. Would you sit around in a box for two years while your collaborator blew you off? Probably not.
Elizabeth Gilbert • Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
I’m not saying it takes decades to execute, but the better part of a decade may be figuring out what you can uniquely provide. [10]