Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality

Every creative person and team needs a Room Three. As we build teams and develop a creative process, our tendency is to privilege the no-holds-barred creativity of Room One. But the idea bloodshed that occurs in Room Three is just as important as the wild ideation of Room One.

execution.

While it can be psychologically and financially difficult to depart from the race toward conventional rewards after a lifetime working with one mind-set, doing so is imperative to succeeding in the long term. Otherwise, you will struggle to sustain your long-term projects amidst the desire to be validated in the near term.

Constraints serve as kindling for execution. When you’re not given constraints, you must seek them.

If you simply capture and then tend to the actions required for a project, you are already way ahead of the game.

Rather than invite consideration of change at any time, many creative teams set up periodic meetings throughout the development process called “challenge meetings.” In a challenge meeting, anyone is invited to ask and answer questions like “What doesn’t make sense with our current plan?” “What are we missing?” and “What should change?”

“I think that if you want to treat your work like a virus that will reach a lot of people,” Jonathan explained, “it’s good to package it in a way that can optimize the number of people it can reach, and that can mean different things. You can make something really, really palatable and turn it into an HBO miniseries or you can make something modera

Yet, among the hundreds of successful creatives I’ve interviewed, a fearless approach to sharing ideas is one of the most common attributes. Why? Because having the idea is just one tiny step along the road to making that idea happen.

In order to channel your ability to focus—and perspire—for extended periods of time, you will likely need to develop a consistent work schedule. Structuring time spent executing ideas is a best practice of admired creative leaders across industries. It is the only way to keep up with the continuous stream of Action Steps and allocate sufficient tim

Sheer perspiration will come only from organizing your energy and holding yourself accountable with some sort of routine.