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Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality

Do you struggle coming up with creative ideas?

Or maybe, getting ideas is quite easy for you, but when it comes to executing them, you shrug?

Then, “Making Ideas Happen” is the book for you.

In our summary, we offer you a systemized approach which will help you both in the idea generating, as well as in the idea executing stages of a project.

Who Should Read “Making Ideas Happen” and Why?

Anything that helps you get your know yourself better is something we would definitely recommend.

By teaching you the differences between dreamers and incrementalists, as well as the way projects,  can be organized, “Making Ideas Happen” shows readers why most projects fail, and how you can change that.

We recommend it to all project managers who want to improve their results, as well as to all readers who have taken on their first projects and feel overwhelmed by the task.

About Scott Belsky

Scott Belsky is an author, an entrepreneur and an investor. He is the founder of Behance and the vice president of community at Adobe.

In his career, he has consulted a number of Fortune 500 companies.

“Making Ideas Happen Summary”

Making Ideas Happen is centered around one core premise: people should not spend too much time imagining – they should step on the ground and act!

Life is messy.

You will not always have the right sources and the proper information, you will struggle with time, and you will need to find a way to work inside and with your environment.

At times, you may feel overwhelmed, not knowing how you can finish all of your tasks and projects since time does not stop and as the markets get more competitive, requirements grow.

This can create pressure and block your creativity, or make you fail in completing your projects.

But do not worry – there is a solution to that.

The solution is simple: get organized.

First, come up with a list of tasks you need to do, and then place them into one of three separate groups: action steps, references and backburner items.

By doing this, you will have a clear image in your mind of what your project is consisted of, and what you must do first, for it to succeed.

Now, your project is one thing, and your character is entirely another.

In order to get to the finish line, you also need to know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses.

Are you the person who has a million ideas, but struggles when it comes to execution? Or are you the person who is great at finishing projects, but ideas are not your strongest suit?

Or maybe, you are both?

Why is it important to understand this?

Because, most often, you do not do projects alone, so if you know where your limits rest, you can partner up with people who can complement your weaknesses.

Teamwork will take you much further!

Depending on your character, you will have a different amount of projects and ideas that you have started.

Usually, we start too many projects and fail to decide the most important ones to work at the moment.

If you are like most people, you most probably make the same mistake of judgment: you choose a project, or you decide to keep one ongoing based on the amount of energy and time you already put into it.

If you want to be more successful, and for things to be easier for you, you have to get realistic!

Go through your projects in detail, and sort them based on their economic and strategic value.

Do not think about what you have already done, about the sunk time and costs. Just think about their real importance.

You do not want to invest more energy in a project which is ultimately bound to fail.

Key Lessons from “Making Ideas Happen”

1.      Task Breakdown
2.      Types of People
3.      The Usefulness of an Energy Line

Task Breakdown

Action steps are the actual steps you should complete.

References are sources of information that will serve you for consultation purposes during your project.

Backburner Items are things you would like to have, and it indeed would be nice too but are not critical to the project.

Types of People

Dreamers have a million ideas but fall short when it comes to executing.

Doers are great executors, and they finish projects successfully, but when it comes to new ideas, they are not that enthusiastic.

Incrementalists are people who can do both idea generation and execution when they need to. They do struggle, however, with starting too many projects at once, and as a result, many times, they do not finish some of them.

The Usefulness of an Energy Line

Prioritize your projects right. Do not worry about how much you already invested in them – instead, worry about the future.

The right prioritization of your projects, which will show you how much energy you should invest in them in the future is called Energy line.

The energy line can be your guide which will show you the next thing you should do at all times.

Like this summary? We’d Like to invite you to download our free 12 min app, for more amazing summaries and audiobooks.

“Making Ideas Happen” Quotes

Our Critical Review

Scott Belsky’s “Making Ideas Happen” is a book that comments on three things: organization and execution, community, and leadership.

The first section is especially helpful for everyone who wants to finally make their ideas a reality.

The second and third section, although consisted of some thought-provoking material, are not as usable and game-changing as the first one.

However, overall, it is an amazing book based on experiences and expertise of great minds and good executors.

After reading it, you will get motivated to change the way you work and finally turn your ideas into reality.

Emir Zecovic

Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.