Time is Money
Tags: ideas, productivity, motivation
Published: 2020-10-06 10:15:51

---
title: Time is Money
published: true
description: Idea. Research. Discard. Repeat.
tags: ideas,productivity,motivation
---
![](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1592495981488-073153776d9a)
<span>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@morganhousel">Morgan Housel</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/">Unsplash</a></span>

### Anytime is taco time

Sometimes you’re talking to a colleague or friend, you’re taking a shower, you’re staring at some wall, or you’re just walking around, **and then a thought or an idea strikes you.** [Eureka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_effect)!

>  “Everything begins with an idea” — Earl Nightengale

Sometimes it’s something you need, other times it’s something you think might help others. Something you think it can bring value to you/them in some way. Something that someway can make your/their daily life easier. Something you/they sometimes lacked.

Sometimes it’s not the best idea but [the perfect excuse to learn something new](https://dev.to/hector6872/fun-sideproject-create-3llg).

### Sometimes you just have to say no

We have on average a lot of ideas along our life that seem amazing in our minds, but not **all of them deserve to be developed**. It’s not whether the idea is good or bad — [the weirdest ideas can give unexpected](http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/05/deal-pet-rocks/) results though. It’s all about our limited time and resources.

>  “There are no bad ideas, just bad decisions” — Jacob Cass

**It’s bad not to try,** as the old cliché goes, **but it’s worse to start it and end up burying it** in our half-finished project cemetery, due to desperation, lack of planning and/or after realising that it’s completely out of our reach.

We shouldn’t start a new project in a hurry without a minimum plan or a feasibility study.

### Think twice before you act

We should consider a few things before we start and the best way to confirm whether or not we should go deeper is to **break down the idea into multiple questions**. That way, we will soon realize whether it is feasible or it’d better to leave it for later — so don’t forget to always write them down — and go for another one.

>  “Don’t be afraid of the answers. Be afraid of not asking the questions” — Jennifer Hudson

The questions you choose and the answers you get will depend on a wide range of factors — such as the size of the idea, its complexity, your previous experience, your mood, etc… — but **only one thing is certain: if you don’t ask, the answer is already no.**

### Simple answers to simple questions
>  “Sometimes a simple question could have a complicated answer.” — Lisa Kleypas

They must be short sentences, asking just one thing per question, straightforward and [closed-ended](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-ended_question). After all, this is not rocket surgery — at least not yet — so **try to come up with questions and answers that helps you to make you a decision at a glance.** Perhaps the first “negative” answer would be enough for that.

### Idea. Research. Discard. Repeat.
>  “Ideas are like insects. Many are born but few live to maturity.” — William Hertling

> ## Don’t get me wrong. **Every idea — good or not — has its beauty** and it would be amazing to develop each one of them to try our luck, but we must go for the best because as we all know: **TIME IS MONEY (so spend it wisely)**.

This article was originally published on [Medium](https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/ideas-development-kit-1d43f9eb9a6d)