I used to have a notebook. It was my secret weapon.
It was filled with my "someday" ideas—the big ones, the game-changers. I was waiting. I was saving my best idea for the right moment, for when I had more funding, a better team, or more experience.
I was waiting for a perfect future that was never going to arrive.
That notebook was my biggest mistake. It was a museum of inaction.
Here is the truth I had to learn:
Use the best idea you have right now.
Not the perfect idea you might have tomorrow. The one that is sitting in front of you today. That is the only one that has any value.
We treat our ideas like they are precious, finite resources. We are afraid to "waste" our best one on an imperfect attempt. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how creativity and success work.
Ideas are not gold bars you keep in a vault. They are seeds. Their only purpose is to be planted in the hostile soil of reality to see if they can grow.
This isn't just about philosophy. It's about physics. You are trying to get lucky, and luck needs something to hit. An idea locked in your notebook has zero surface area. It is a smooth, polished wall that opportunity cannot cling to. Action creates a rough, textured surface. Every email you send, every line of code you ship, every conversation you have expands your surface area for luck. It puts you in the path of serendipity.
Think of it like taking shots on goal. Some founders spend all their time on the sidelines, designing the perfect, unstoppable shot on a whiteboard. They never get in the game. The winners understand that the only strategy is to take more shots. Each imperfect product you launch is a shot. Most will miss. But each one teaches you something about the goalie, the wind, and the angle of the net.
And here is the secret:
Your next great idea will not be born in your notebook. It will be born from the messy, frustrating, and surprising results of the good idea you are working on today.
Great ideas are not the product of isolated genius. They are the children of action. They are the unexpected discoveries you make while you are in the middle of building something else. You get your best ideas when you are in motion.
So stop waiting for the perfect idea to strike. It won't.
Look at the ideas you have right now. Pick the best one. Not the biggest one. Not the safest one. The one that excites you the most, right now.
And take the first, smallest, most obvious step to bring it to life.
You can't steer a parked car.