All of us have brilliant ideas; however, many of these ideas will stay in our idea incubator unless we put them into action. One thing that I’ve always struggled with is showing up for myself and showing up for my ideas. The old pattern looked a bit like this: 1) I have new ideas. 2) I write them down, sometimes even share them with friends. 3) I don’t do anything about or with the aforementioned idea. Aspirations, ideas, and thoughts would sit on a shelf in my mind, untouched. In some cases, they were forgotten until something stirred it up. A perfect example is this blog platform. A few years ago, I told some friends, “I think I want to start a vlog to keep track of and share my thoughts, ideas and focus on growth.” This statement stayed an idea, was forgotten and was stirred up in a new form. Less than a month ago when I told my friend, “I think I’m going to start a blog to catalog this journey of personal growth”, she reminded me of the vlog idea that I thought was long forgotten.
How I showed up for myself
The main difference between the vlog idea and this blog was that I showed up for my idea. I took it seriously and began to plan. I wrote things down, I told my accountability partners, I did some research and I got to work. Every time I thought about giving up on my idea, I reminded myself that no one else can take my ideas for a walk and put them into words except me. If I didn’t create and take up this space, someone else would create their own space, but it would never be the same as mine. With that spark and some other reminders, I owned that I had to be the person to plan, execute and do it again and here you are reading my next post.
Let’s get real
I realize that the way I described the development of this platform may sound simple and that is the farthest thing from the truth. When planning, it is easy to get wrapped up in logistics of the ideas that you have. You can plan mentally, get flustered by the mental plan and then become overwhelmed or turned off by my own idea. To be honest, I definitely got wrapped up in logistics like the website layout and almost didn’t launch my blog. I wanted to present the most complete version of my idea and something didn’t feel right. That was really my underlying perfectionism, that I often try to deny, rearing its head. Thankfully, at this point in my journey, I was able to push past this perfectionism, take the next step and get the ball rolling again.
Explaining PED
I have adopted a new pattern that I call PED: 1) plan, 2) execute, 3) do it again. The Latin and Greek root, ped, means foot. This works well with this PED pattern because it’s a reminder to take the first step and then another one. Once you put in the work to make your thought tangible, it’s time to execute. After execution, reflect on the work that you just did, take some notes, think about what you’d do differently next time and then plan your next step (do it again). I believe that it is incredibly important to be flexible with this process. Starting with a plan does not lock you in and prevent the integration of improvements or changes.
Sometimes naturally and at other times with great effort, this plan or method can be applied in all areas of life. In school you have assignments, at work you have tasks, at home you have chores and in life you have aspirations that you can create a plan for, execute and do again. Let’s apply the same structure, PED, and take the first step in turning a concept into reality. Whether it is a new business idea, a class that you want to take or teach, a creative venture, a country that you want to visit, a program that you want to apply for, a book you want to write, a person that you want to connect with, a new goal that you’re working towards or anything else that you can fathom, show up for yourself and your idea by practicing a living PED. I know it feels great for me to do it.
Living PED
Along with this blog, some other ways that I live and practice PED include singing and dancing again, joining a book club, starting with a new therapist, learning a new language, working on program application for next professional steps, connecting with people and growing my network, and picking up new projects at work that challenge and excite me. All of these now executed plans are important to me for different reasons and serve different purposes while fostering physical, intellectual, emotional, mental and professional growth. Hopefully, you will take some time to practice PED and show up for yourself and your ideas. Take a look at this week’s challenge “take your ideas for a walk” for some instruction.
A word of caution
To readers, like me, who like to put a lot on their plate: while living and practicing PED is better than leaving your ideas idle, every thought does not need to be acted on at the same time. That can easily lead to burn out, frustration, and mental, emotional, financial or physical strain. Take a few moments to do some pre-planning and practice discernment and prioritization. PED can begin once this important step is done.
