Perhaps this photo is a tad morbid due to it’s visual nature, which is paired with my intention to assert the notion that our greatest ideas goes to our graves with us. In past years, I’ve been guilty of being an “idea hoarder;” what I mean by that is from time to time, I’ve conjured up numerous creative ideas–in which I failed to act upon due to a combination of procrastination, work schedules, relationships, fear of criticism and quite often for some of us, life tends to knocks us off our feet–at least momentarily. One day I just decided that I wasn’t going to keep my ideas on the shelf anymore and that I would do everything in power to share my creativity with the world.
The following is one of my favorite quotes made by motivational speaker and author, Les Brown. I constantly keep this quote in the back of mind to help keep me motivated, especially when my goals are not reached as quickly as expected:
“The graveyard is the richest place on Earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem or determined to carry out their dream.”
So what is that big idea that your intuition is whispering to you, but you keep telling it, “not now, but someday?” Sooner or later, all of our tomorrows will expire–so how we choose to spend today is significant. Each day that we postpone our dreams, difficult tasks and succumb to the unwanted echoes that hinders our creativity, discipline and innovation–resulting in a net deficit to the world and yes, the entire universe.
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” – Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee is one of my favorite individuals in which I idolized for much of my entire life. The quote mentioned above touches upon one of the main reasons we carry our “untapped creativity” into the afterlife. Many of us tend to give up abruptly when our journey through life seems to become too difficult to make. Some of us also retreat on pursuing our passions and ideas due to fear of being criticized or ridiculed. One of Bruce Lee’s passions was to share his knowledge of martial arts and the beauty of China with America–and as well as the rest of the world. Chinese community officials were against it and he didn’t fold up his tent when things got tough. Even though his life was short-lived in which he died at the age of 32-years old in 1973, the impact of how he lived his life is still felt all over the world. This reinforces my belief that the greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me.. going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” – Steve Jobs
The company you keep is also a reflection of your own attitude. Always keep yourself surrounded with like-minded, positive people. These individuals are the ones who are going to keep you encouraged and elevate your spirits. You will feed off each other’s energy and confidence–which will result in putting forth your best effort to not only to your work, but also in other areas of your life. This is a key component to unlocking those dormant ideas you have locked up inside your head.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, are you a former or current “idea hoarder?” When it comes to these ideas, what are your priorities? What motivates you? What takes up most of your time? How do you fight back against the unseen forces that inhibits you from sharing your ideas with the masses? I hope this post inspires you to address these questions for which you have or have not asked yourself yet. I’d love to read some of your thoughts in the comments.
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The Perennial Aesthete 
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