Do you feel that most of your ideas suck? Well, I hate to tell you this, but they probably do. Welcome to the club!
We have dozens of productive and non-productive ideas every day, and we should not feel guilty for having ideas that suck, but what we do need to learn is to identify the two categories!

Usually, we become obsessed with the creations of our mind, which is also normal, however, you need to acknowledge the fact that a single idea can never be profitable enough. You need to combine several to make to make successful concept.

If you don’t let go of the weaker ideas, then it will be impossible for you to have the energy and time for the better ones. So what criteria do you use to identify which ideas are the best in your list and which ones need to die?

Here are some tips that will help you.

Excitement

The ideas that excite you the most are certainly the best. We humans are blessed with powerful insightfulness, a gut feeling that can provide us with the answer about the best ideas.

The ideas that create natural and spontaneous excitement inside you will make you take action at a higher level that will help the idea to come to life much more powerfully.

Opinions

Sharing your ideas with others initially comes across as a tough task. You’ll fear criticism or that sharing them could make them exploitable. But you must be ready to face criticism because it’s the whole point of getting people’s opinions! If you are seeking compliments, just call your mom.

If you can convincingly defend your ideas against criticism, this means that it could actually be good enough. However, if you are not able to protect and justify your idea, this could identify flaws in the concept or a lack of your motivation for the idea, both of which are terrible enemies. So be ready to modify or dispose the idea.

If you are worried about others implementing your ideas before you can, I have a secret for you: Nobody cares about your “great” idea! Really. Maybe your mom that gave you a bunch of compliments for it, but those don’t count (just don’t tell her).

Stop worrying so much about your ideas being stolen, ideas are worthless, everyone have good ideas every single day, the world it’s full of great ideas, but it’s a clear vision and restless execution that create value.

Create Prototype

Building a prototype is always a good decision because you get to elaborate the idea and polish it further by physically visualizing your imagination. This helps evaluate how people would react to it and eventually you will realize if it is worth keeping or not.

By the way, don’t spend too much time or money on the prototype, that’s the huge mistake I see over and over in the startup world. I see prototypes that are so refined that end up looking like a final product. Prototypes HAVE to look scrappy, their purpose is to convey an idea, not to look good.

Filtering and more Filtering

The best strategy to select an idea that truly works is to think ahead, re-think and discard. You need to evaluate every idea from different perspectives such as how difficult or easy is it to execute it, how convincingly can you present it, would it appeal to the users or not, would the idea help other people or be beneficial in helping you grow as a professional.

Don’t Give a Shit

This tip could seem to go against the previous principle about “opinions” but it’s actually different.

Never let opinions of others deter your efforts, people will always try and find flaws in your ideas. Some may offer constructive criticism while some will just try to flat demotivate you. Just bounce that negativity and don’t let them take over your self-confidence. The person with no self-confidence always loose.

Listen to others opinion but don’t let a person’s opinion derail your spirit, even if that person is an “expert”.

We wish you a fabulous New Year full of good and sucky ideas!

To learn more about this topic here are some links for you!
Instigator Blog
A Smart Bear
Peter Shallard
Ready Set Startup