Managing ideas without losing focus

You’ve been working on an idea for months, making decent progress, but not yet at the level you hoped.

Suddenly, a new idea hits—fresh, exciting, full of potential.

"This is it," you think. You convince yourself the current idea wasn’t working because it wasn’t the right one.

So you abandon it and chase the new idea…only to repeat the cycle a few months later.

I've been there. I’ve lost count of the projects I’ve started and abandoned.

While there are valid reasons to leave an idea behind, abandoning one solely to chase something new and exciting isn’t one of them.

It instead hinders your progress by keeping you from developing patience, consistency, and focus—without which even the best ideas fail to develop into something substantial.

This post is about how I escaped that cycle and the process I now use to manage my ideas.

The myth of the perfect idea

It’s commonly believed that all you need to find success is a single brilliant idea, one lightning-strike insight that will change everything.

This belief is reinforced by stories of successful companies that seem to have started with a moment of genius.

But these stories leave out a lot.

For one, few companies stick with their original idea. Instagram started as Burbn, a check-in app. Shopify started as an online snowboard store before pivoting into an e-commerce platform. YouTube began as a video dating site.

Even companies that stuck with their original idea have succeeded not only because of the idea but as a result of the consistent work they put in over the years to sustain and grow the business.

Bridging the gap between an idea and a product people love takes significant effort, and turning that into a sustainable business requires even more.

Moving past the myth of a perfect idea and recognizing this effort makes it easier to stay committed rather than constantly shifting focus to new ideas.

Ideas are the starting point

Viewing ideas as raw materials allows for objective assessment before you commit your resources.

It creates the detachment needed to receive feedback, allowing your idea to evolve through interaction with the real world.

Getting an idea is the starting point. The real work begins with validation and continues with sustained effort over years to build something lasting.

One way the mind tries to avoid this work is by generating new ideas as distractions.

To keep from being distracted, I created a workflow that enables me to manage my ideas, a process that prevents the endless cycle of jumping from one idea to the next.

A system for managing ideas

The system works like a Kanban board with three steps: Idea dump → Research → Prioritization.

Idea dump

Generating many ideas increases the odds of finding strong ones. Most will not be worth pursuing, but a few will stand out.

I write down every idea I get in my notes app—and then I let them sit for a while.

Doing this is crucial as most bad decisions I've made happened in the heat of initial excitement.

Given time, many ideas lose their appeal or the flaws become obvious. This alone eliminates a significant number of weak ideas.

Research

Ideas that keep pulling my attention move into this phase.

For research to be worth the effort, you'll need a willingness to be proven wrong. Holding onto your idea too tightly makes it hard to assess it objectively.

A common pitfall here is seeking confirmation from potential customers by telling them your idea (eg. will you use this?) instead of asking open-ended questions that will reveal deeper insights about their needs.

A great resource I'll recommend here is The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick. It provides practical guidance on conducting customer interviews in a way that uncovers real needs.

Being honest with yourself is crucial here. It’s easy to become attached to your idea, but if the research doesn’t support it, moving on is the best decision.

Prioritization

Ideas that survive the research phase get prioritized for execution. The question of when to execute is a resource allocation problem.

Based on the available resources (time, money, etc), I ask myself: is this something I can take on now or shelve for later?

Because I work mostly solo, a general rule I have is to work on only one major project (one that requires significant resources on my part) at a time.

Once a project reaches a point where most activities are automated or requires minimal active involvement from me, then I take on another major project.

This approach has helped me stay focused.

More focus, less distraction

There’s so much I want to do and not enough time. But attempting too many things at once keeps me from making real progress.

This workflow for managing ideas can help you make intentional decisions about where to invest your time and energy.

Making progress requires trade-offs. Choosing to go deep on one thing means letting go of other options.

And that’s a price you have to pay.