Every Tree is a Pipe Dream: Helping Ideas to Grow

Big ideas tend to show up unannounced.
You might be folding laundry, stuck in traffic, or staring at the ceiling at night when inspiration walks in, bold and glowing. And just as quickly, the doubt follows: “I don’t have time for this. I’m not ready. This is too much. It is out of my skillset. It is out of my league.”

But here’s the truth:

Ideas often arrive before their time. That doesn’t make them irrelevant—it makes them early. And early is good.

Your ideas are some of your best friends, so greet them kindly when they visit you throughout the day.

You can always have an improved relationship with a person through spending time with them. It is no different with an idea. Every time an idea visits (or revisits) is an opportunity to spend time with an old friend and work on the relationship.¹

Looking at your ideas with love, hope, meaning, and good will, will help them to grow in the direction they need to be.

Don’t fall into the shadow of your ideas, meet light with light.

When you really want to do something, you will think about it a lot. It’s important to meet these micro moments with a positive mental response. Every thought you have contributes to an eventual reality and the quality of your thoughts affect the nature of that reality; even if the thoughts seem small and the idea large.

It’s tempting to see the greatness of an idea and cast aspiration aside as if the idea was a taunt and a distraction. That is stepping into the shadow of your idea, rather than meeting its light—which is a gift—with a light of your own: the will to entertain it, or at the very least, to smile at it.

The distance between today’s reality and tomorrow’s may seem too far to consider, or even believe in, but, the path is still one foot in front of the other. And these moments add up. What may seem like a day dream is actually a micro investment.

Consider the following:

Every tree is a pipe dream.

The plant kingdom will always offer great representation of what is possible within life— these organics require light in measure, season, and time. They are still, stoic, with none of their movements without increase or decrease inspired by some purpose or affect. ²

Ideas need that same nourishment and stimulation. A glance here, a thought there, helps, as you are able. And you’ll find that the more time and light you afford your ideas, even if the light come sparsely, the further the ideas will come along in their growth. Maybe even one-day they will even self sustain and grow strongly on their own. ^{Genesis 2:7, Job 33:4, Isaiah 42:5}

“The grass grows green where you water it—don’t fear planting beyond the fence.”
“Water the thought—and trust the bloom.” ³

Every idea is worth honoring if you really want them to come true. Just because something is outside of your current capacity, doesn’t mean that it’s not viable. Don’t limit your potential. All humans are particularly amazing.

When working with network members here at the GBTI Network or working with the experts at Codeable, I can see that individuals are constantly granted new ideas and I know too well that time is limited in such a way that it is tough to serve them all. I also know that not all ideas will come to pass, but each one has the opportunity to take root uniquely in us and progress.

One of the toughest challenges to face from a organizational perspective is to make sure that we are seeing more ideas come to their actualized state than we see pass us by, let go, and never finished. We do this through positive pressure and discipline. Both will carry an idea through. ⁴

Be kind to your ideas and don’t give up, if you do not have to. Finish at least 1/3 of what you set out to do and you’ll be doing all right.

Footnotes and references

Recalling this performance by Adrian Belew from the band King Crimson, a progressive rock band:
King Crimson – Waiting Man (King Crimson In Concert – Live In Munich, 1982), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ummdDO-I6Es
A good song about being stoic in the face of the changing world:
Blue Oyster Cult – (Don’t Fear) The Reaper (Audio), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy4HA3vUv2c
Recalling a track from a late 90s emo band Hum, “If you are to boom”:
Hum – if you are to bloom – v2, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df_-0uORmSs
It’s important to bring ideas to a published state — which does require dedication as well as prioritization. Consider breaking ideas into small <50 hours, medium <150 hours, and large 150 hours+, and then focusing on small projects to begin with and the others in-between small projects. It will be important for your self esteem to have W’s, and not risk falling into starting ideas and never finishing them, as the latter may negatively affect your self esteem.