:: Robin Sharma

Be an idea factory

Robin Sharma

Augest.14 : One big idea could revolutionise your life - and even the world around you. All it takes is that single genius thought to change the whole game. I'm reading a fantastic book called Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design by Paola Antonelli, curator of architecture and design at New York's Museum of Modern Art. In one of the (little) chapters, I learned of designer Daniel Cudzik. He's the brave dreamer who invented the stay-on metal tab that you now see on every single one of the billion aluminum cans made every year. Before his invention, tabs were pulled off and thrown away, creating tons of litter, not to mention hurt feet. One idea transformed all that.

Cudzik was watching TV one night with his two kids when the vision came to him. (Your best ideas will come when you least expect it. Most revolutionary thoughts don't come when you are keeping a frenetic pace, they come when you're having fun, so have some fun - it's good for business, as well as for your soul.) Rather than letting the idea slip away (like most of us do), he wrote it down, sketching his plan for the stay-on tab. He quickly gave it to a draftsman, and they soon created the prototype. Guess what? It worked. Brings me to my suggestion: Become an idea factory. Of course, you also need to have a passionate commitment to breathing life into your big ideas through near-flawless execution. Couple the two and you just might produce something extraordinarily valuable. And wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?

- Excerpted from The Greatness Guide 2 by Robin Sharma. Published by Jaico Publishing House, jaicopub@vsnl.com