I see you: that look on your face says you have an interesting idea or project you’ve been sitting on.

But that’s the problem—you’ve been sitting on it like a mother hen waiting for her eggs to hatch. I don’t know what Old MacDonald told YOU, but that’s not how things work. Making your ideas happen requires action.

The first step is the hardest, a journey of a thousand miles, blah blah etc. We all know the cliches (which are cliches for a reason) but I’m here to tell you what to DO about it.

So.

Sit your busybody and/or couch potato* arse down and take 10 minutes to do just ONE of these things:

1. Send an email or direct message

Reach out to a potential collaborator, investor, client, or connection and ask them if they have a few minutes to give you some feedback on your idea. If they’re open to it, set up a short (10 minutes) call and let them know you’re open to—and appreciative of!—their thoughts on your pitch.

2. Tell a friend

Talk to your bff, partner, neighbor, or whomever is most convenient, and tell them about your idea. Or tell your parents—you know you’ve been meaning to call them anyway.

Their questions may help you clarify your thoughts, and sometimes just saying it out loud feels like a weight has been lifted.

Bonus: people who know and care about you may even offer to help. How’s that for progress?

3. Write an outline

If you’ve only thought about your idea up to this point, it’s time to get it out of your head and onto a fresh piece of paper. Start with basic bullet points if you’re not ready to write a cohesive plan; you can always flesh it out later. Feel free to mix it up with symbols and doodles, or if you really need to visualize things…

4. Sketch a design

For us visual types, seeing gets us closer to believing. Grab a real-life paper and pencil (or iPad if you got it like that) and sketch what you’re thinking: it could be a mind-map, a flow chart, a website home page, a storyboard… some part of your project that you can visualize.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, but make sure you draw it by hand vs using a design program. Research shows that writing and drawing fire up your brain and help your memory.

5. Buy the domain

If you have a name in mind, go ahead and buy the URL. It’s super cheap, and even if the exact name you had in mind is taken, there are plenty of variations to play around with. Once you have that, claim the name on social media properties as well.

Pro tip: Keep all the login info for these accounts somewhere easily accessible and unforgettable.

6. Upload one post, track or video

Sometimes it’s easy to make the thing and hard to put it out there—even Erykah Badu has poetry she hasn’t shared. Commit to uploading one song to SoundCloud, one video to YouTube (or Instagram or Facebook or…), or one podcast episode to anchor.fm.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, or even good—you’re just popping your sharing cherry. If you want to take it down once you become internet famous, you can.

The important part here is getting it out of your head and into the world, whether it’s through words, sounds, or visuals. It’s about taking one small step to make your idea more real to YOU.

Once you start to solidify your ideas in your mind and take those first steps—and tell other people (gasp!) about it—you’ll gain momentum and be even closer to making your dreams a reality.

Need a sounding board? Shoot me a message or set up a chat here.

*Yes, you can be both; I mastered this combination years ago.

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