We all have ideas within our minds — some with the potential to revolutionize the world while others being simple and personal. No matter…
· 4 min read
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Hackathon: Transform Hidden Ideas into Reality
We all have ideas within our minds — some with the potential to revolutionize the world while others being simple and personal. No matter which category they may fall under, it is your original idea, your brainchild that developed from the experience and knowledge gained over time. Most of these ideas overcome a hurdle previously faced. When an idea solves a problem, it opens the door to several more possibilities and unexplored paths.
Note down those ideasYet, many of our ideas fail to meet the light of the day. Why is this so?
> “No one liked it”“I did not know how to build it”“It was childish”
There is a huge gap between ideation and execution. When Uber brought the idea of connectivity to help customers find a ride, many people came out saying “I had that same idea a long time ago”. Yet, Uber made it happen in the best possible way. Similar to this, there are several ideas that people think of, but only a few take a step and execute it. The fear of taking the first step hinders many from even trying.
These are some common thoughts people have in this regard:
I am not all that creative enough.
Creativity does not come out of the blue, where one simply starts off and takes the world by surprise. People find answers only when a question is posed. Creativity needs a purpose and motion to go forth. So look closely around you. Try to spot a silent problem, and think how one can overcome it. Creativity takes time and a lot of attempts, because once our subconscious mind finds a pattern, everything rolls faster.
The splendor of Disney ( Travis Gergen on Unsplash)Many did not consider Walt Disney to be creative. He was in fact fired from a newspaper company because they felt he lacked this element. Instead of accepting it, he worked hard and started “Laugh-O-gram” animation studio which unfortunately did not last long. After several more criticism and failures, the pioneer made a few films that became classics in time. Today his name is well renowned and respected for making children’s favorite character ‘Mickey Mouse’. Surely we all can keep looking for growth in creativity.
I shared my idea with others but they laughed at it.
When Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharczyk and Brian Chesky pitched their idea of starting a system where people would open their homes to strangers to stay, several potential investors laughed at it, saying that due to the safety risk, this would never take off, and people would never rely on this system. Joe was faced with the challenge of designing a trust system where both the parties would feel safe, and he kept failing, as many more people started backing off. Despite all that, today the company the three started, Airbnb, is valued in billions of dollars.
The founders of Airbnb (Source: inc.com)They kept trying even when people laughed at them because, for every ninety-nine people who dismiss your idea, there is bound to be one who takes it seriously.
But my idea is tiny and silly!
Your idea might be tiny and silly today because it is on the way to evolve into something more noteworthy. What started off as a simple interface to interact with other students at Harvard University transformed into the huge social media website called Facebook. They were not the first people to think of online interaction, but in time Facebook gained popularity due to their innovative style.
Facebook’s versatility in todays world ( Tim Bennett on Unsplash )An idea being judged as “silly” is probably being filtered through a biased lens, or you are not looking at it the right way. Figure out which one of the two it is.
What if I make a mistake? What if it fails?
We all are familiar with Amazon, the online marketplace. But this refined version happened after several mistakes and failures from its CEO, Jeff Bezos. He had several ideas such as online auctioning website, yet they all failed. He learned customer preference and tuned accordingly. It was his will to adapt and learn from his mistakes that made him one of the most recognized entrepreneurs in the world.
Jeff Bezos (Source: financialexpress.com)Failures are the stepping stones of success. When things fall apart, take a moment to consider why so. Was it the way you did it? The way people received it? Or mere bad luck? After figuring this out, try again, this time with greater thought and insights. Maybe in time, your idea will reach the most refined version.
> “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”-Thomas Edison
Alright, but how do I go about? No one’s there to help me out!
Many a time, the lack of direction, the right degree of support and the fear of failure are why these ideas never meet the light of the day. If the environment you are in is not supportive, and the internet is not guiding you, then you need a community that understands and can provide support to your requirement.
You need a judgment-free environment to tinker and make mistakes, all while learning the way. And we have quite the solution for you: Hackathon