A Game of Ideas. A Throne of Action.

One of the hottest media properties right now is the medieval masterpiece that is “Game of Thrones“.  The creator, George R.R. Martin, was featured in a recent interview in Rolling Stone magazine where he was asked the inevitable question that all creative minds are asked — “Where do your ideas come from?”

I’ve always loved the answers to these questions. Some of my favorite answers come from cartoonists and comedians and writers. One of the best answers I’ve ever heard comes from author Neil Gaiman (which I’ve written about) along with how I come up with so many ideas myself.

George R.R. Martin’s answer is also spot-on.
I’ve been saying for years that there are no “new” ideas, and it appears the Game of Thrones storyteller is of the same opinion.

“Ideas are cheap.
I have more ideas now than I could ever write up. To my mind, it’s the execution that is all-important. I’m proud of my work, but I don’t know if I’d ever claim it’s enormously original. You look at Shakespeare, who borrowed all of his plots. In A Song of Ice and Fire, I take stuff from the Wars of the Roses and other fantasy things, and all these things work around in my head and somehow they gel into what I hope is uniquely my own.”
~ George R.R. Martin, Author

Keep these words in mind the next time you’re stressing over whether or not your latest idea is “new enough” or not.  Simply knead that concept into others you have filed away in your brain and wait for the ingredients to take shape into something that is now uniquely your own — and then win big by putting that idea into action better than anyone else.

Lightbulb Moment:

• Thomas Edison famously said that “Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration”.
  Do you spend as much time thinking about how you’ll successfully put your idea into action as you do about the idea itself?
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• The Edison reference is especially on-point because it’s said that many of the things he’s credited with inventing (as well as many other historic men of invention) were actually “discovered” by others — sometimes years before the inventors credited with the discovery ever applied for a patent.
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• The best idea never put into action is worthless. But, even the most mediocre idea that gets implemented can prove priceless.
  What ideas can you initiate and activate in order to achieve success?

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