Is it a side quest or a genius idea?

A couple of years ago, I watched the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special.

I was watching the bit where Nessa and Smithy got married and I got thoroughly inspired to go away and become a celebrant.

I just got hit by this flash of inspiration that this was something I should add to my portfolio of skills.

Now, honestly, I’m still pretty convinced it’s something I need to do at some point. I just think it would be SO much fun.

And just imagine it.

When Ant and I finally move to the Lake District and we’ve got our retreat centre, and we’ve got a beautiful candlelit woodland where we do our fire walks, just imagine being able to offer marriage ceremonies there too.

However...

For where we are right now in building WildEdge, I’m pretty certain that constitutes a side quest.

And I’m talking about this because it’s something that’s come up in many conversations I’ve had with business leaders over the years, but particularly this week for some reason.

If you’re wired to be an entrepreneur, you probably recognise the feeling of shiny object syndrome. Also known as magpie syndrome.

You get excited about a shiny new thing.

You get that flash of inspiration that tells you, THIS IS IT.

And off you go on a quest to pursue it.

Only time will tell whether it proves to be a side quest or a genius idea.

I’ve had a few clients come to me with this exact conundrum this week.

Is this idea they’ve got in the back of their mind their intuition telling them there’s something they should be pursuing?

Or is it a distraction from building what they should be building?

A source of academic entrepreneurial procrastination, if you like.

So this is the advice I gave them.

And I’m sharing it with you too, in the hope that if you recognise this feeling, it might help you work out whether your latest brilliant idea is something worth following...

Or whether you need to put the shiny thing down and get back to work.

Discernment

This is where I introduce the word discernment.

What I mean by discernment in this context is being able to trust your intuition about why you want to pursue this thing in the first place.

And this is where it gets really interesting, because that question can be quite revealing.

Are you actually tuned into your intuition?

Do you trust your inner voice?

Or have you been running your business, doing the do and performing the role of how you think you should be showing up for so long that your instinct has become buried underneath responsibilities, deadlines and other people’s priorities?

There’s a really simple test you can do.

When you’re making a decision that’s right for you, it feels good.

And when you’re making a decision that’s wrong for you, it doesn’t necessarily feel bad.

It just feels a little bit clunky.

A little bit misaligned.

A little bit... wrong, somehow.

And the more you practise paying attention to that feeling, the easier it becomes to recognise it.

But, I hear you say, I LOVE it when I’ve got a brilliantly exciting idea that I’m really inspired by and want to plough all my time into exploring.

Well, I think we can put this to the “does it feel good or not so good?” test as well.

Because there’s a difference between a wholesome, aligned, this feels good in my soul feeling...

And the fizzy, adrenaline-fuelled dopamine hit of a rabbit hole.

It’s hard to explain.

But once you’ve experienced that feeling in your heart of hearts, you know the difference.

Does it fit your vision?

And if you’re not quite sold on the intuitive way of telling, there’s another way you can examine whether this idea is worthy of pursuit.

And that’s to examine the opportunity through the lens of your vision and, more importantly, through your values.

Let’s look at vision first.

I like to think about vision in terms of Goldilocks.

Not too big. Not too small.

If your vision for what you’re trying to create is too big, you’ll get overwhelmed. You won’t believe it’s possible, and you’ll give up.

But if your vision is too small, it won’t be exciting or compelling enough for you to take the necessary action to make it happen.

You’ve got to have a vision that’s so exciting to you that it gives you goosebumps and tingles, while at the same time making your bum clench a little bit.

And if you’ve got that, if you’re really clear on it, whether it’s a drawing in a notebook, an AI strategist you’ve built and captured somewhere, or a vision board with lovely magazine pictures cut out, you can hold the opportunity up in front of that vision.

Like holding a colander up to the sun to view an eclipse.

And ask:

Is this opportunity taking me towards my vision, or away from my vision?

If it’s taking you away from your vision, then the answer might not be easy.

But you have your answer.

What do you stand for?

Which brings us to one of my favourite topics: values.

Knowing who you are and what you stand for is at the absolute bedrock of everything I teach.

Mainly because I drifted through the first three decades of my life without knowing I was allowed an opinion.

And so I firmly believe that knowing your values is one of the best navigational tools you’ve got, as a business owner or as a human being.

There’s a particular way I teach not only how to identify your values, but how to define them and, most importantly, how to honour them, which I’ll save for another time.

But if you’ve ever wrestled with the kind of question we’re talking about today, is this opportunity in front of me a brilliant idea or a side quest?, then I urge you to spend some time getting acquainted with your core values.

If we cut you down the middle, what would be running through you like a stick of rock?

And then take some time to define what that value actually means to you.

Because one person’s definition of a value, say honesty or integrity, can look very different in practice to somebody else’s definition of exactly the same value.

Once you’ve captured those values, they become another lens, another navigational tool, through which to view the opportunity in front of you.

Is this right for me, given what I stand for in the world?

So, should I become a celebrant?

Let’s use my idea of becoming a celebrant as a litmus test.

Because actually, any one of these techniques on its own gives you useful data.

But when you combine all three, you’ve pretty much got your answer.

Does becoming a celebrant feel good to me? Does it feel aligned?

Yeah, it does actually.

It sits pretty nicely with my intuition about the kind of impact I want to have in the world.

Does it fit with my values?

Yeah.

Particularly my values around contribution, adventure and fun.

Does it fit with my vision?

Honestly?

No.

Or at least, not strongly enough right now to divert my time, talent and energy into pursuing it.

And there you have it.

There’s your answer.

Becoming a celebrant isn’t a bad idea.

It might even be a bloody brilliant idea one day.

But right now?

It’s a side quest.

And I think that’s the important distinction.

Discernment isn’t about deciding whether an idea is good or bad.

It’s deciding whether it’s worthy of your time, talent and energy right now.

So, what idea have you got sitting in the back of your mind?

And is it a side quest or a bloody brilliant idea?