What an idea Sirji!
Most of us will recognize this as the tagline of a popular cellular network company. The advertising media is flooded with many such brilliant ideas. But, how does one define an idea?
A good idea is rarely ever that one single moment where you experience an insight into something that no one has seen before. Barring the fabled ‘Eureka’ moment experienced by Archimedes, very, very few people have such great ‘aha’ moments.
Though the term ‘idea’ is popularly used in terms of a ‘light bulb’ moment any thought which crosses the mind can be called an idea. Thousands of images and thoughts cross our minds every day. Pictures that we see, purples that we solve and instruments that we use are some examples of great ideas. Did each of these take the exact shape of what they were conceived as? Most probably not! Like a motion picture which goes through many retakes and changes on the editing table most good ideas will evolve from a collection of smaller ideas or through a process of filtering many ideas.
A good idea, however, gains value only if it translates into reality. Your dream idea about a flying car might have immense potential but it has no merit if you cannot find the way to make that flying car a reality. Similarly, in say advertising, an idea is successful only if it meets its biggest challenge – increasing the visibility and impact of the product on its client base, thereby increasing its sale. Some advertisements become popular solely on the basis of their shock or nuisance value, where the content of the advertisement is not directly related to its product. Though the method is debatable, the impact of the idea cannot be denied.
The transition of an idea from being a mere thought into a great reality takes a good amount of sincerity, dedication and hard work. Google, for instance, began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both PhD students then, at Stanford University in California. Today, the name Google has become synonymous with a search engine. Though every idea might not have the potential to become a ‘Google’ in the future, no idea should be discarded as too small or meaningless.
But, how can one think of an idea, you might ask! One of the easiest ways is to look at what already exists and then, find a way to make it better. A calculator you can talk to, instead of pressing buttons or a cup with a built in thermometer that signals a green light when the milk has cooled enough to be consumed, are some examples. Remember, as Walt Disney once said ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’
So, what is your idea sirji?
