it to have any hope of ever becoming reality.
Why is it so important to feel this strongly? First, it’s how we identify a winning idea. But just as importantly, we need to be truly inspired by our dreams, since we will need that motivation to do all the hard work they require. According to one 2015 study, experiencing a sense of awe promotes altruism, loving-kindness, and magnanimous behavior. The researchers described awe as “that sense of wonder we feel in the presence of something vast that transcends our understanding of the world.”
This is similar to the peak experiences described by Abraham Maslow, who wrote that these are “especially joyous and exciting moments in life, involving sudden feelings of intense happiness and well-being, wonder, and awe, and possibly also involving an awareness of transcendental unity or knowledge of higher truth (as though perceiving the world from an altered, and often vastly profound and awe-inspiring perspective).”
Thus, winning ideas inspire awe because they represent a profound desire to change the world in order to help others. They are solutions to problems that transcend ourselves. Yes, we may be happy for ourselves, too, but what really energizes us is feeling that larger sense of purpose, to be playing our part within the interconnected matrix of society and the world. Every time we think of our dream, we should want to dance on a mountaintop and scream with wonder and delight.
Enjoy the moment. Revel in it. Then immediately take steps to make that winning idea a reality.
Turn a Winning Idea into a Winning Company
Don’t keep your dreams in your eyes, they may fall as tears. Keep them in your heart so that every heartbeat may remind you to convert them into reality.
— NISHAN PANWAR
When people have a winning idea and do nothing about it, the idea soon fades until it is forgotten. That is, until one day they encounter someone who has turned a very similar idea into a great company. Then there follows that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach: That person could have been living a successful entrepreneurial life, if only. . .they had done something about their idea. What stopped them? Why didn’t they follow through?
People talk themselves out of great business ideas all the time and for many reasons, but fear, negative thoughts, and a lack of self-confidence are the prime culprits. Like a kid touching a hot stove, people will convince themselves that any bad economic news, like a dip in the stock market, means that it’s the wrong time to start a new business. But running a business is never risk-free, the economy will never be perfect, and waiting for the ideal conditions only risks letting your idea die from neglect.
Don’t do that. Instead, immediately take action to make your business a reality, which builds momentum in the opposite direction. Once you discover your winning idea, incorporate it as a company. Online companies make the process simple and inexpensive (replacing the need for expensive attorney fees), and I consider this to be one of the simplest, least costly, and most effective things an entrepreneur can do. In fact, in 2018, according to the Small Business Administration, 70 percent of all businesses in the United States are sole proprietorships, and 99 percent never register their business, which is crazy given all the benefits. The legal protection alone is worth the small cost, but where it really pays off is psychologically and emotionally.
The benefit of reacting forward cannot be overstated. Once you incorporate your company, you have set your idea in motion. You have established a business, one that you own. You are the boss, and you have the paperwork to prove it. Doesn’t that feel exciting? Doesn’t that build self-confidence? Doesn’t that add to awe?
Now every time you see the paperwork, you cannot help but plan the next step, which is figuring out all the nitty-gritty details for how you will accomplish the business you’ve just created (which I discuss in the next chapter).
The RAS Conundrum: We Focus on What’s Urgent and Important for Survival
Every second, our brains are bombarded with about two million bits of data from our senses and nervous system. That’s more information than we can process into conscious thoughts, and so our brains have developed a system for filtering and prioritizing information. If our brains didn’t do this, our consciousness would be overwhelmed, and we’d be too overloaded to make decisions.
The part of the brain that handles this function is called the reticular activating system, or RAS. Psychologist Jerome Bruner said the “inhibitory system” of the RAS “routinely and automatically removes from perception, reason, and judgment over 99 percent of available fact.”
Through various neural paths, the RAS connects the brain stem to the cerebral cortex. The brain stem controls many involuntary functions and bodily reflexes, while the cerebral cortex is believed to be the seat of consciousness and thinking abilities. The RAS links these two regions and helps our consciousness focus on what’s most important or urgent in any particular moment according to the belief system we have developed since birth. This is essential, but it’s also a double-edged sword.
Out of those 2 million bits of data we receive every second, we only have the capacity to process around 147 bits. Pause for a second to digest that. As Bruner said, our RAS filters out nearly everything we experience, more than 99.99 percent, and hides it from our awareness. This is a conundrum: In every moment, we are blissfully unaware of almost all of the world around us. The RAS filters out whatever we have decided, through learned beliefs or mental habit, is not important, and it allows into consciousness only whatever seems most relevant or needs immediate action. What does this mean for a first-time entrepreneur who wants to start a business? If we believe, for whatever reason, that it is the wrong time to start a company or that we lack the talent or ability to run a company, the RAS will let through information that supports these beliefs and filter out any contrary evidence. Any established negative habits or thought patterns will be reinforced, and in order to change them, we have to decide to change them and consciously choose to expose ourselves to new sources of data. In other words, we have to alert the RAS that it needs to focus on something new that’s more urgent and important.
For instance, the RAS is the reason that, every time you learn a new word, you then start hearing it everywhere. It’s why you can tune out a crowd full of talking people, yet immediately snap to attention when someone says your name. Advertising tries to hook the RAS: When you see a new car commercial that causes an emotional response, you tend to notice that car whenever you see it next.
Normally, all of this happens without us noticing. The RAS filters the world through the parameters we give it, which includes our philosophical, religious, and political beliefs, as well as our beliefs about ourselves. This helps to explain why we repeat negative behaviors even if they hurt us. If we expect failure, the RAS reinforces that by filtering out any contradictory information. On the other hand, if we feel empowered or expect success, the RAS will focus on data that confirms and supports this.
Because of the way the RAS functions, it’s difficult to change repetitive or habitual thoughts, behaviors, and experiences. Yet it’s possible by deliberately changing what we focus on. Bit by bit, we can reprogram our RAS and gradually change the world we experience. Instead of letting a winning idea fade, we deliberately feed the RAS a new goal by incorporating the idea immediately. This is not positive thinking. It’s positive reaction, and that makes all the difference.
Positive Reaction: The Psychological Benefits of Incorporation
Maybe the most important benefit of incorporating your winning idea is that it immediately starts to retrain your RAS. Once you take action and make an emotional commitment to the idea, you are saying to your RAS: I am serious, this is important, and I want this. Obviously, your incorporated company will not have much substance to it yet and maybe not for a while. That is not important. What is important is that you are acting on your intentions. You are breathing life into your winning idea and taking the first tangible steps to creating your own business.
Below,