Hi Reader,

What happens after you have a good idea?

Take something simple like starting a vegetable garden. You’ve got a tiny city patio, but you’re not letting that stop you. You research vertical container gardening, chat with a master gardener at the farmers’ market, sketch out a plan, buy all the supplies, haul everything home, and stack it neatly outside.

It all feels promising.

And then…nothing.

A few weeks go by. The supplies are still sitting exactly where you left them. Friends drop by, notice the pile, and you happily walk them through your plan and how it’s all going to come together.

But it doesn’t.

The idea's good. The intention was real. So why does it stall out before it ever begins?

Last week we talked about The Non Planner. This week it’s the Non Starter, which are the folks who can be quite good at planning, but struggle to act on the plan.

Back to the city patio garden, it may stall because it’s easy to get distracted.

For example, The Non Starter might get as far as planting half their plants, then switch to rearranging their home office instead. A week passes, and the newly transplanted plants get forgotten, especially after a couple of heavy rainstorms.

Another reason is boredom. The Non Starter enjoys the idea of an idea, but once the practical work begins, they can lose interest. It's not that they do not want to do the work, but they prefer creating ideas over execution. As a result, the garden supplies sit untouched while they wait for the next spark of inspiration.

The passion may fizzle. The Non Starter may suddenly decide that a city patio garden was a lousy idea and will never work. They then start researching other gardening ideas they feel more excited about, such as a hydroponic garden built in their only bathroom.

Help for The Non Starter

So how do we help the Non Starter? Sometimes, it could be as easy as helping them through the first few steps of execution. Then they see their idea taking shape, and they run with it. However, they could run out of steam. So it helps to check in now and then to see if they need a nudge or maybe chocolate to keep them going.

The other option is to simply do it for them, and this is where good partnerships come in. One person dreams it up, while the other quietly turns it into something real that doesn't involve abandoned garden supplies or half-finished office renovations. It could be a very efficient system, as long as everyone is clear on their roles, and there are either healthy boundaries or, sometimes, a full handover from the Non Starter.

Coming up with good ideas is easy. What's harder is staying with one long enough for it to survive and be executed.

For the Non Starter, the real shift is not in thinking differently, but in staying put long enough to finish what they started.

Read our testimonials

Recent Articles

How to Spot a Non Planner: Where's the plan?

Read article here

Please share with your colleagues!

Sign up for our newsletter