Believers and non-believers
As creative innovators, we come up with ideas all the time, and sometimes we have the audacity to work on them! And although we are the geniuses that can do everything, we often struggle against time constraints. Sooner or later, we feel the need to get help from other people. If you are looking for help to bolster your world-changing idea, this blog will (hopefully) help you understand the motivations of people who offer their support to innovators.
There may be a wide range of reasons for an individual to assist you or support you in developing your ideas. It’s impossible to list every reason, but we can look at the basic beliefs of these individuals in order to understand their motivations. Simply divide them into believers and non-believers—but how exactly do you go about “simply” dividing them up into motivational categories?
I like to organize people who may be connected to my ideas into two groups: the first group, believers, is categorized by their motivations, and the second group, non-believers, is categorized by default—those people who do not fall into any of the first group’s categories. Of course, you can analyze non-believers even further, but this is not my focus today.
Group 1: Believers:
Category 1: Those who believe in my idea:
These people believe that my idea has the capacity to bring about some positive change in society and probably the world at large. They feel the need for the idea itself, either based on their own first-hand experience with the problem that I am trying to solve or because people close to them have experienced similar issues.
These people offer the best support for my idea. They keep me focused on the idea, they keep me honest about the purpose, and they are willing to weather much hardship along the way. They will help me as long as I am sincerely working toward the goal they support.
Category 2: Those who believe in me:
There are people in my family and circle of friends who believe in me. They listen to my crazy ideas, sometimes thinking “Hassan is just dreaming,” but still they decide to support me. They feel that I can somehow pull it off, even if they don’t really understand what I am talking about.
These people are the greatest source of energy for me and they give me the strength to take risks, knowing they’ve got my back. They will be happy if I succeed, and they will still be there for me if I fail.
Category 3: Those who believe in my success:
These people have the impression that I could be a great success. This impression may be based on my past successes, my inheritance of wealth or wisdom, my personality, the type of idea I have, or maybe on my business plan numbers. Just for the record, I did not inherit any wealth but my dad was very wise and my mom is a real genius, so you can say that I got lucky here. Back to the topic; their interest in my idea is directly connected with their belief in my success. They will support me as long as they believe that I have the potential to succeed.
These people are important and they are a great source of support, but I need to be careful about not raising too many expectations. Any doubts about my ability to succeed will disperse this group rapidly.
Group 2: The non-believers:
Everyone who does not fall into the first three categories is a non-believer. They either don’t know what I am doing because I failed to explain how my idea relates to them, or their past experiences prevent them from believing in the idea or believing in me. I need to either connect better with these people, explain better, educate better, or wait until they can see my idea in action. After all, seeing is believing.
Believer or non-believer, everyone can help us in some way. We may not be able to influence someone’s belief in our idea easily, but understanding their motivations should help us manage their expectations, and in doing so we’re better able to forecast the level of support we can expect from them.
Believe it or not, it is up to you J