We Are Awful At Discarding Bad Ideas
Doing so is the first step toward having any decent ones.
Why is it so hard to let go of bad ideas?
Firstly, the problem with ideas is that they can only be proven as right or wrong in retrospect. At the time of ideation, dreaming is free. Moreover, if we are enthusiastic — essential to success in any field — we will struggle to see how something could go wrong because we firmly believe it will go right.
Secondly, while ideas come freely, developing them takes time and effort. The more we work on devising anything, the harder it becomes to discard it, even when everything hints at a probable fiasco. We are notoriously ineffective at dealing with sunk costs. The more we invest in something, the less likely we are to quit, even when the evidence urges us to do so.
Thirdly, accepting that we had a bad idea implies we may have had many more. Self-defence mechanisms are infamous for exacerbating existing conditions; instead of using the current clue as a pointer to fix other problems, we hide it and pretend we have nothing to worry about.
Finally, we often consider bad ideas signs that we are poor creatives or underperforming workers. Therefore, we spend energy defending subpar jobs to protect our reputation (frequently solely from our scrutiny)…