on ideas.

not every idea you have is going to be a good one. this is especially frustrating when you are in the idea-generating business. when you get paid to come up with new ways to say things. to make things look. to communicate with people who have bombarded brains.

but the challenge is not to come up with the best ideas. the challenge is to recognize an idea that is not good before it takes over and puts your thinking and the rest of the ideas into this box that is really hard to break out of.

who likes to work inside a proverbial box that's likely filled with sh*tty ideas that you convinced yourself were good?

right.

so maybe it happens in the shower. or on a run. or while you're in the middle of something completely unrelated to anything else. but it hits you. and the idea that seemed brilliant last week is now an embarrassment.

but wait. you shared that in a brainstorm. and then presented it to your creative director. and it's in the art director's hands. being formed and tweaked and made pretty.

it's not too late. if it was your sh*tty idea, make it better. there is always time to make an idea better.

always.

well, mostly always.

but you should always try.

and never stop writing down the next best greatest idea that you think might change the face of the idea business.

even if in two days it ends up in the trashcan.