The 4th IDEA
Have you ever had an idea, a thought, a plan, or a strategy that you thought was so great but didn’t work out at all? Perhaps someone you know?
Maybe you’ve given everything, you’ve wasted resources and poured yourself into a project, an enterprise, a sojourn or a given venture, but ultimately you were left disappointed at the end of it all?
I want to talk to you today about the 25% RULE. I want to show you why not all good ideas are great, even when they seem so at first
I want to show you why you shouldn’t beat yourself up when IT doesn’t work out the third time!.
I have run a successful company for many years now and I have seen and made good, bad and great decisions. I have seen many others make multi million dollar decisions been made, some have changed the direction of the business for good and some have altered it the opposite direction.
I want to share with you what I call the 4th idea.
Ever sat down and had ‘an idea?’ How do you turn that idea into a great idea?
Every time we have an idea, a thought, a plan, or a strategy, it goes through a funnel process. Let me show you what I mean. I’m using Mark 4, verses 3 to 8.
“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.” (Mark 4:3)
The first thing that happens to us is that we have a thought, or an idea flash through our mind. The SUGGESTION STAGE is where we think of all the things that would not make the idea work: the obstacles, the challenges, the difficulties, how it’s never been done and how it may never be done.
What most people do is DUMP the idea right there on what I call THE PATH.
Unfortunately, most ideas never get past this stage.
So should we dump the idea right there? I say proceed to the ROCKY GROUND.
“Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away.” (Mark 4: 5-6)
This is the idea that has been refined and is now ready to proceed. You sit down and begin to put systems and structures in place for it to work perfectly but because there is no depth, the layers begin to fall off gradually, and one after the other. It may be a GOOD IDEA at the WRONG TIME, or a WRONG IDEA at a GOOD TIME. Ultimately, it withers away and doesn’t survive planning.
Again should we just forget the hours spent on it so far and just throw it away?
Why not proceed the idea to the THE FIRST 90 DAYS?.
“Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain” (Mark 4:7)
The first 90 DAYS is the TESTING GROUND for the idea. This is where all the planning is implemented. This is where you put the systems and structures to work and develop the idea practically, exposing it to all conditions, situations and extenuating circumstances. Sometimes you get it right but not perfect, but sometimes it doesn’t survive the 90 days and ‘it yields no grains-no results YET’
So do you dump it altogether and start something else all over?
Koulson Kernahan says ‘the glory is not in never falling but rising each time we fall’
The only time you fail is when you quit, and when you stop trying.
“And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:8)
The 4th IDEA is THE GOOD SOIL. This is where you try again until you succeed.
Have you ever seen someone come up with an invention, or something new that you said to yourself; ‘oh no! I thought of that once!’ Or ‘why did I not think of it that way!’ Well, that’s because you stopped on the testing ground.
THE GOOD SOIL is where your hard work is rewarded thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. It is where you reap the fruits of all your hard work.
The 4th IDEA works! The 25% RULE says Only 25% of people get to the GOOD SOIL stage! And only 1 in 4 ideas ever get to this point. Would you be one of them?
I pray the Lord would give you the wisdom to persevere to this point and the knowledge to implement so that you too can make a difference to your life and to others, amen.