Discover your greatness: Ideas create the world

The fountainhead of every great enterprise, invention, revolution or a movement is an idea. Everything on earth originates with a thought - an idea. An Idea is the unending natural resource of all times and the commonest denominator between the underprivileged and wealth, uneducated and educated, undeveloped and advanced nations as well as bound and free men.

Inside the spirit of every human being is an idea—a thought, a concept, a notion, an intent, mental impression, or a grail in life regardless of the geographical location, socioeconomic and educational status, religious and political affiliations, or age.

The Goldfields of South Africa and China may be exhausted , the Oil fields of Russia and Saudi Arabia may be used up, the diamonds reserves of Botswana and Democratic Republic of the Congo may run out, so is all tangible natural minerals this generation has hinged its hopes on for future development and survival since time immemorial, but ideas have the tendency of outliving it's originator. “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on,” said the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.

An idea is a thought or conception that potentially or actually exists in the mind as a product of mental activity; a formulated thought or opinion; an indefinite or unformed conception; or an entity (as a thought, concept, sensation, or image) actually or potentially present to consciousness.

Hence, any productive and positive thought, image, concept, or sensation that comes into your mind needs serious consideration if you want valuable ideas.

The speed and efficiency of the development in virtually every facet of human endeavor in the 21st century has outpaced any civilization in antiquity. The advent of technology has also set the platform for ideas to be communicated in milliseconds across the globe and actualized in unconventional ways . Gone were the days when only few elites and countries in certain parts of the world were noted for inventions and ingenuity.

Today, the world is inviting everyone to the banquet of ideas irrespective of your background . The world care less about pedigree or history, it just want you to show what you do or bring to the table as a young man or woman, old man or woman, educated or uneducated, rich or poor, black or white, strong or physically challenged. Regardless of who you are and how you look like, your ideas can create the world.

The world has been riding on wave of ideas evolving from unusual places of the globe as well as unconventional individuals especially this past 20 years. Therefore, in spite of how massive, improbable , strange, ludicrous, or impossible your ideas may seem to you or others today, never discard or disdain it.

Don't be tempted to undervalue your ideas at its embryonic state because it may be just what the world needs for such a time as this . French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic Movement, Victor Hugo was convinced that “All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.”

Your idea may be a change catalytic and a creative force in one compartment of society or all sectors of the human endeavor in the years ahead, so hold on to it with a bull dog grip till its time come.

At times in life, all you need is just an idea (one idea), whose time has come for you to be thrust into greatness. American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn believed that “Ideas can be life-changing.

Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.” The following is a story of an ordinary young person like you whose ideas transformed the world around him:

At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family's home. William Kamkwamba, from Malawi, is a born inventor. William started borrowing books from a small community lending library located at his former primary school.

He borrowed an 8th grade American textbook called Using Energy, which depicted wind turbines on its cover. He decided to build a windmill to power his family’s home and obviate the need for kerosene, which provided only smoky, flickering, distant and expensive light after dark.

First, he built a prototype using a radio motor, then his initial 5-meter windmill out of a broken bicycle, tractor fan blade, old shock absorber, and blue gum trees. After hooking the windmill to a car battery for storage, William was able to power four light bulbs and charge his neighbors’ mobile phones.

This system was even equipped with homemade light switches and a circuit breaker made from nails, wire, and magnets. The windmill was later extended to 12 meters to better catch the wind above the trees. A third windmill pumped grey water for irrigation…

After being forced to drop out of school due to his family not being able to afford the tuition, Kamkwamba, took part in the first event celebrating his particular type of ingenuity called Maker Faire Africa, in Ghana in August 2009.

Kamkwamba is one of four recipients of the 2010 GO Ingenuity Award, a prize awarded by the Santa Monica–based nonprofit GO Campaign to inventors, artists, and makers to promote the sharing of their innovations and skills with marginalized youth in developing nations.

With the grant, Kamkwamba, will hold workshops for youths in his home village, teaching them how to make windmills and repair water pumps, both of which proved to be transformative skills for this young African leader.

“All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea,” Napoleon Hill. You may have an idea(s) to impact the world from local to global but your current condition does not seem to reflect your expectations, never give up; keep those creative thoughts alive by doing the following:

CAPTURE - Find a workable and effective technique of capturing the creative ideas that permeates your mind. Never let an idea slip without documenting it, it could be written on a paper, record on an audio device, a smartphone, or any other means that seem efficient for you. Idea(s) can also be transferred from our workable (temporal) memory to our permanent memory through a steady rumination. Napoleon Hill, American author in the area of the new thought movement, suggested that “Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.”

NURTURE - Polish physicist and chemist, Marie Curie advised, “Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.” What you give your attention to inhabits your life and grows stronger, so it is with ideas. Ideas need nurturing to grow strong and be ingrained in our minds.

You nurture an idea by creating a constant conducive environment through meditating on it, reading related subject, dialoguing with people with like perspective or purpose. “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people,” Eleanor Roosevelt.

ENTHUSIASM - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance.” Ideas are supposed to be electrifying because it is would probably be scrutinized by cynics, pundits, “idea killers,” contenders, or even well-intentioned people who may want to buy into it.

Thus, if you are not consumed or passionate about your ideas, it will be shattered with little opposition or analysis. “Ideas excite me, and as soon as I get excited, the adrenaline gets going and the next thing I know I'm borrowing energy from the ideas themselves,” says American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction writer, Ray Bradbury.

IMPLEMENT - “First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination,” said Napoleon Hill. “The value of an idea lies in the using of it,” Thomas A. Edison. Many ideas die in the process of transforming them from the conceptual stage to the actualized stage.

Cautiously implement your ideas with sound judgment, good information, and adequate research at the opportune manner. Your ideas may be great and lovely but failure to execute in the right environment and season would make your ideas take a nosedive.

Ideas are the bedrock of civilization and a driving force behind the sustainability of the human life. Without ideas, men would be living in caves, walking miles bare footed, plagued with incurable diseases, etc. but it take fortitude, courage, and persistence to believe that one’s ideas is viable.

It been said that “Many great ideas have been lost because the people who had them could not stand being laughed at.” Hence, you have to resolve to hold to your ideas regardless of what you may go through in life and know that your ideas might change and affect someone’s life some day.

Finally, let me assure that : The moment you resolve to take hold of life with all your might and make the most of yourself at any cost, to sacrifice all lesser ambitions to your one great aim, to cut loose from everything that interferes with this aim, to stand alone, firm in your purpose, whatever happens, you set in motion the divine inner forces the Creator has implanted in you for your own development.

Live up to your resolve, work at what the Creator meant you to work for the perfecting of His plan, and you will be invincible. No power on earth can hold you back from success - Orison Swett Marden.

Dr Otchere-Asamoah is an Inspirational Speaker, Psychotherapist, Author and Entrepreneur.