You wake up in the middle of the night, groping in the darkness to reach the light switch. You fumble with your bag or drawers in pursuit of a pen and a paper. Within minutes of scribbling, you have a 3 page full of an idea that just hit you. It’s brilliant and disruptive. Its amazing and life changing. It’s the next big thing. You can’t wait to implement it.
The first thing you do in the morning is hunt for information about your idea on the internet. You will probably find what you are looking for. Then you pitch to your friends, family members and anyone who is ready and has some spare time to give you their ear. They will tell you what you want to hear because they want you to do something constructive or they don’t want to disappoint you.
As time goes by, you bump into people in the same industry and they tell you the bitter truth. This is the time you feel like “These guys don’t see what I am seeing”. Of course they don’t, because it’s all about you and your idea. You will think they are just jealous and don’t want to help you because you will be successful. When you ever get an opportunity to pitch before an investor or client, that’s when it dawns on you; it’s all been in your head and not in reality, figures, and facts.
An idea is like getting high on a drug. I mean real drugs that can get you to utopia. Once you take it, it gets to your nerves, your head and mind. Like an ecstasy pill, it excites you. It controls you and blinds you but shows you the world that other people can’t see. A world of possibilities and fame and money. A world of headlines and billboards. It takes you high into cloud nine and you can see the world below you. BUT, when reality dawns on you, it doesn’t let you down slowly. Instead it lets you fall and fall. There where you sing Alicia Keys “I keep on Falling”. And the ground is never cushioned. It’s concrete.
But does that mean we shouldn’t dream and have no exciting ideas? NO. We should dream and wake up and write all we want, but take it slow. Research and be ready for criticism and change. We should get high, but moderate the rise and carry a parachute on our way up.
Agava Isabwa is a Blogger, Photographer, Tech enthusiast and Co-founder of Utafiti Kenya (www.utafiti.co.ke)