Strike while the iron is hot

Ideas come and go, and if you have a curious mind then you come across ideas relatively frequently.

Activation

Everything requires an activation energy to get over and the energy to start something is highest and diminishes over time. By starting earlier when your energy for an idea is at its highest you give yourself the highest chance of getting over the hump of the activation energy required to start something. ¹ This is not always easy as ideas occur at seemingly random and fleeting moments. ²

Once you have started working on your idea you then have to determine how long it takes you personally to get over the defined activation energy. This seems to vary per person based on how well their competencies match the execution requirements demanded by their idea. Put simply, things you find easy have a lower activation energy.

You have started working on your idea, the creative juices are flowing, and you get lost in the work. But there will inevitably come a moment when this tends to fade, entropy kicks in, and your personal energy dissipates. The result is that it becomes more effortful to maintain a high level of energy that enables you to chip away at a new idea. ³

Having ideas

Having good ideas initially, seems to be something that comes more naturally to some than it does to others. This is perhaps only true for individuals that have a few characteristics in place. They have a deep affinity for something, they are curious about what they think they have an affinity for, and they are able to allow their minds to wander.

Having a deep affinity for something comes from practice. Affinity is composed of two parts, skill and liking. Skill is usually developed first, worked at and slowly chipped away at with time and effort. Liking something is an outcome (at first) of pursuing a skill, combined with personal preferences for a subject. ⁴

Over time the liking for a skill is reinforced by continual work on the skill, and a positive feedback loop is created.

Inputs

Perhaps then keeping the iron hot is a function of a number of inputs:

• personal affinity to the subject of the idea,
• personal feeling of the goodness of the idea,
• and, immediate feedback loops of the progress towards the goal.

Firstly, I choose the word affinity as it combines the skill and feeling towards a subject. We have all encountered in our lives those frustrating individuals that seem to possess a skill for something, yet lack the positive notion towards it. It is hard to imagine these individuals have an idea in the shower regarding something they disliked and immediately hopping out to begin the mentally arduous work required to act on the idea.

Similarly, it is not enough to merely like a subject. One must also possess relative skill in that area to actually be able to have a meaningful idea regarding it, and then make a contribution to the furthering of that idea. Fortunately, liking something seems to be a prerequisite to becoming excellent at it. So if you are not yet possessing the skill to have true affinity for a subject, but you are halfway there (because you like it), then you are at least on the right track.

Secondly, there is a slight hubris required to persist with an idea. This usually takes hold as activation energy is wearing off. With the initial burst of energy you are like a child in the world. You forget the rules, and you just play. But as you age (and as your idea ages) you are beset by rules. Hubris helps here to give you the feeling that what you are doing is correct, and to ’trust your gut’. Trusting your gut seems to be important if you want to work on important ideas, but the development of a good gut, and also listening to it, could be a subject of another essay.

Finally, everyone knows the importance of immediate feedback loops for pushing the edge of your own knowledge. In this context, though, it is a weird one. How can you have a feedback loop toward an idea you are unaware of the journey toward? Well, that also appears to be intuitive. Given your affinity for the subject, you have a good idea of what good is. You recognise patterns of good. You’ve seen similar paths to good outcomes before, and you reason that the path you are currently on is either a correct one, or not.

Another method of obtaining a feedback loop is to look for outside confirmation. This can come in many forms such as having a partner that also has an affinity for the same class of problems as your idea.

Putting it all together

Given an idea, the optimal way to get started, and keep going would be, therefore: develop a strong affinity for a subject, have a good idea, work on it as quickly as possible and use your energy to overcome the activation energy of the idea, trust your gut about the idea by having a dash of hubris, and, recognise immediate feedback loops by leaning on others in the field.