Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, said something I remember every so often.
“Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference.”
Everyone has ideas. In the shower, on the drive to work, on a walk, in the ten minutes before sleep. Ideas turn up everywhere – uninvited sometimes because you’re trying to sleep.
Most of them die right there in the shower though. Hot water, free-flow thinking, then the towel comes out and the idea goes with it.
I’ve had hundreds of ideas in the shower. Most of them I’d forgotten by the time I’d left the bathroom.
However, the ones that mattered might not have been the best ideas I’ve had. They were the ones I actually wrote down. Or, these days, record a voice message and chuck it into Claude or ChatGPT to brainstorm a bit on.
That’s the real difference between people who build things and people who just think about building things. Not talent. Not luck.
Action!
People who do things get things done. Written down like that, it sounds obvious. It isn’t obvious at 6am, when the idea is still fresh and the day is already pulling you somewhere else.
So, this week, when you get a good idea, don’t let it evaporate with the steam.
Write it down.
Study it properly.
Decide honestly if it’s worth pursuing, not just exciting to think about.
Then do something on it. One small step is enough to kick it off.
This Week’s Motivator
Catch the idea before it disappears.
Write it down within the hour.
Take one small action on it before the day ends.
Prompt for the Week
What idea have I had this week that I still haven’t written down? What’s the smallest possible step I could take on it today?
