Ideas can burn us down
The Diary of Mad Learning & Development Specialist Volume 2, Issue 15
I was working on a plan, making updates to one of our processes, shuffling with ideas, future improvements, new enhancements.
While doing all this, creating a grand vision in my mind of a perfect process and system the utopia of processes.
Then I just needed to organize them. By using AI, I was able to put all those ideas into a nice little table.
With a total of…
32 rows of ideas.
I froze and blinked at the screen a few times.
With the process being released in a matter of a month and some days, I rushed to start making plans, asking myself, “How can I fit all these 32 ideas into this release?”
The utopia of processes was still in play, and I was going to find it.
I started time blocking, making priorities, looking at the time between now and the release date.
I felt surrounded and everything was burning down around me, like I was inside a house on fire. But for some reason, I thought I could save it.
That was me trying to have too many things going at once a feeling that I know all too well.
But in reality, when fire is burning around you, most of us don’t leap into action.
You stop and freeze.
I realized I created this fire. Instead of making the system better, I was burning it down by overloading it and myself at the same time.
Too many ideas or changes don’t make the system better. They burn it down.
Let’s use the example of fuel (ideas/improvements) and a car (system). Just enough fuel is perfect, but too much and the car is at risk of blowing up.
So I was at a crossroads. Let the ideas go, or try to only pick the ones that serve the system.
Then I thought — can I put the ideas away? Can I plan them later? Do I have to do them all at once?
This may seem like an obvious thought, but my fellow perfectionists (probably a lot of us in L&D) have had this “burning down the house” feeling before.
L&D has been asked to “evolve” and provide “its value.” There is even greater pressure to drive more business value, but we cannot forget about us being humans along the way.
And as humans, we are like natural gas tanks. We run out faster than we think.
Trust me. I’ve been there.
In moments like these, I’ve been trying to do two things.
Focus more on the reasonable value that I can create today.
Focus on the value that the organization needs in this moment. What are the actions that you can reasonably do in the time you are given? The value that I can reasonably bring at this moment.
There is a way to do this without losing any of our ideas.
Have a system or process for your ideas so you can go and grab them.
I’ve been developing really clear roadmaps and release lists that can be a simple table to house the ideas — take a few ideas to implement and then save the rest for later or when you need them.
This way you never lose them, and you can always go grab them later. I know I have them in my back pocket.
Here is a sample of what my roadmap/idea collector looks like. I use Notion.
Even if you collect all your ideas, we still have to use our number one resource.
Time.
Give your future self the time to review and revisit your ideas.
Give yourself time to sort through them or they just collect dust in your information system. For example, give yourself 2 hours every month dedicated to reviewing ideas and roadmaps.
Both ideas and fires aren’t negative if managed right. Using them at the right moment and for the right purpose can create the impact that we strive for.
How will you manage your ideas to be able to use them when you need them?
