The journey of ideas: from gut to greatness
The four homes of ideas
‘Where is that idea currently sitting?’ a mentor asked me as we discussed potential revenue opportunities.
It was a simple but powerful question that helped me reflect that it was still firmly in my head, and that ideas traverse through distinct stages, with our job to shepherd them through this journey as efficiently as possible.
🌱 First home: the gut - where ideas germinate
Ideas often begin as subtle whispers in our bodies before they reach consciousness. They are ‘sleepers’ that lurk beneath the surface - a potential business venture, a desire to relocate, or an intuition about changing direction.
When an idea lives in your gut, it needs one thing: space to emerge.
Our constant busyness often drowns out these internal signals. It is a travesty that some of the greatest ideas known to humankind have never made it to the surface.
Great ideas need space and air. You need to give it to them! In my experience, this is best done through:
solitude: long walks without distractions (leave your phone behind)
reflection: morning pages, meditation, or breathwork to bring the unconscious into consciousness
silence: single day silent retreats have shown me how powerfully ideas bubble up when given space
conversation: sometimes a coach or trusted friend can help coax out what's already within you
There is no surprise that some of my best thinking has been on an aeroplane. Why? Being 20,000 feet in the air with no distractions and long periods of silence slows things down and lets thoughts simmer to the surface.
Imagine a seedling underground, pushing against the soil but not yet visible. It needs the right conditions to break through.
🧠 Second home: the head – aka the danger zone
Once an idea surfaces from your gut to consciousness, it crosses into the danger zone. Your head is the worst place for an idea to linger.
When an idea is trapped in your mind, you become a victim of:
overthinking
analysis paralysis
self-doubt
constant revision without action
When you notice an idea bouncing around your brain, evacuate it immediately. Write it down. Tell someone. Record a voice memo. Your mission: get it out of your head and into action as quickly as possible.
Picture thoughts as bouncing pinballs in a machine, making noise but going nowhere until they find an exit path.
🧪 Third home: the lab - where you discover if your idea has legs
Ideas don't need a grand launch to leave your head. They simply need a controlled environment where they can be tested.
The experimentation zone is where ideas prove their worth:
test it with 2-5 people
create a minimum viable product
run a small pilot program
collect initial feedback
Ideas in the lab are golden - you'll quickly learn whether to pursue or pivot.
Think of a scientist carefully mixing compounds in test tubes, observing reactions before deciding which formula deserves scaling up.
🌍 Fourth home: in market - where you find out if the ‘rubber hits the road’
The ultimate destination for any worthwhile idea is the marketplace or your target audience. Here, fragmented thoughts become concrete realities, and the learning accelerates exponentially.
Nothing provides better feedback than:
paying customers
real-world application
genuine audience reactions
unexpected use cases you never imagined
A sailboat released into a flowing river, finally reaching the open ocean where it catches wind in its sails and reaches top speed.
Launching this Substack – an example
For years, I ignored or never gave space for ideas in my gut. Few things made it through and when they finally surfaced to my consciousness, I let them linger far too long. Writing this Substack is one example.
‘Work got in the way.’ ‘The timing isn’t right.’ These excuses kept my words held back for months, even years.
Eventually, the drumbeat in my body grew too loud to ignore. I moved the idea from the head to the lab - what you're reading right now. Weekly writing teaches me what I enjoy creating and whether that resonates with my audience.
Will this become a more fulsome pursuit? Maybe, maybe not. But I would never discover the answer if my idea remained captive in my head.
Accelerating the idea journey
In my view, the two stages that yield the greatest rewards are:
Gut to consciousness: Allowing buried intuitions to surface
Market deployment: Putting ideas into action where they create real value
Something you probably know already. But sometimes, we need a gentle prompt for us to realise where our ideas are currently living - just like my mentor gave me. Are they:
sleeping in your gut, waiting for space to emerge?
spinning endlessly in your head, causing anxiety?
being tested in small, controlled environments?
creating value in the real world?
Ideas are not meant to be static – ideas are meant to move. Your job is to get the wind behind them.