I wrote recently about striking while the iron is hot. Today I want to consider a related idea for turning inspiration into fruit: Setting things into motion. Another key to getting many creative projects underway for me is that when I feel a creative inspiration I try to set it into motion as quickly as possible. I want to move that idea out of a space where I have to actively ‘push’ it forward into one where it ‘pulls’ me into action. If you do this you can move an idea out of a high motivation requiring space into one that feeds you, and you’ll find that you’ll have an easier time growing and developing it.

There are a few different ways that I set ideas into motion:

1. Get other people on board.
Have a great idea for a project? Tell some like minded collaborators about it, set up a meeting, and get them excited. At each meeting make sure you know when you’re going to meet again. In this way you will benefit from the energy, endurance, and accountability to others (like have a gym buddy) and you’ll begin to set a rhythm around the idea’s creation by having a regular time that you check in.

2. Put it on your Calendar.
If you don’t feel that you can collaborate with others set a meeting with yourself. Block out a regular time on a daily or weekly basis to work on your idea and don’t miss it. You can always have others hold you accountable to this time and you don’t even have to tell them what you’re working on just make a deal with someone that you’ll check in or work beside them on a schedule.

3. Promise a Delivery Date
Deadlines are a powerful force in our modern lives. If you have an idea set a delivery date for the end product and the first milestone and then get someone to check in with you as those milestones arrive. In fact the more people you tell the more powerful this accountability force can be. The worst thing you can do is keep your idea completely secret — in this hidden space you can easily pretend that you never had it and relegate it away to the pile of forgotten dreams.