In your business career, how many new ideas for products, services, improvements, etc. have you had that should have worked … but didn’t?
My guess is it’s a very large number.
Is that a fair assumption?
If so, is it also fair to say that once they ‘failed’ – you cut your losses and sent them on to the graveyard … never to be seen again?
Which makes me wonder … have you ever heard of ‘The Boneyard’ in Tucson, Arizona?
If not, it’s a 2,600 acre facility used to store some 3,100 military aircraft for future use.
Now, not all of them will be flown again, which is why they are broken down into 4 distinct categories: Long-term, Parts, Future Flyers, and, Excess Inventory to be sold.
So anyways, what’s this have to do with business ideas?
A lot – here’s why.
Business ideas ‘fail’ for a variety of reasons such as no desire, poor communication, lack of implementation, ‘way before it’s time’, and so on.
As you know, you, your business, your team, society, technology, etc. does not sit still – and this presents us an opportunity.
See, instead of discarding ‘failure’ ideas to the graveyard … What if you sent them to ‘the boneyard’ for potential future use?
This way you can wait until society catches up … or …
A new technology is invented enabling mass adoption of your idea (Did you know the internet’s been around since 1969?)
New products create a need for it …
You finally get team members who can make it a reality …
Or … maybe you simply ‘part it out’ and take a piece and combine it with another … leading to something brand new.
Regardless, the options are endless.
Which is exactly why creating an idea boneyard, and revisiting it periodically is a sure way to shortcut your way to innovation.
And besides, it’s a great reminder that time spent thinking of ideas … is NEVER wasted in the long run.