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here is a great connection between ideas and humans. Probably of all the species that God created, it is the humans through which God works by using ideas. Ideas are extremely powerful for the following reasons:

• I believe Ideas are older than all of us
• I believe that each human, regardless of their academic background has the power to ideate and create massive impact on earth
• I believe that Ideas are much more powerful than death
• Everything you see, including yourself is a result of an idea. You did not come out of a cell that evolved over millions of years ago. You are a masterpiece because you are a product of God’s idea.
• Therefore, it is ideas that create everything, nothing more and nothing less.
• I believe that ideas connect people to their God given purpose

Why Ideas are Critical

Therefore, it is absolutely important for us to take a second look at the power of ideas. Within each of us, I am talking about in our minds and hearts, lies powerful ideas that are answers to the many questions that we have unanswered.

The world today is ruled through ideas. [ictt-tweet-inline]Our success or lack of it in life is as a result of application or abdication of ideas[/ictt-tweet-inline]. That is the single-most powerful statement on success you will ever hear. Why is that? Because every single one of us humans has ideas. So where is the problem? The problem is failure to harness and harvest them and stay with them and create things out of them. It is Albert Einstein who famously said:

“It’s not that am that smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer”

Whatever this genius is calling “problems” is just another instance of “ideas”. This subject is so vast that a single article will not be able to service it well. Today, we shall take a look at what exactly you need to do with idea, but not before we look at what I call “The 5 Levels Of Ideas”

5 Levels of Ideas

1. Intuition and Instinct

I love this level to the hilt. Every human being has that sixth sense, that instinct, that intuition about life. God put this awesome natural system of navigation in all of us to guide us. In here are our desires, dreams and wishes. All those are awesome ideas. If you really take a look at it, these kind of ideas are what connect us to our purpose.

• For example, when you read the story of Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, you notice that he had ideas about space at a very young age. It was pure instinct that led him pursue this venture. As a result, a private citizen has been able to do much more that what a whole government funded organization (NASA) did for decades.
• If you read the story of Steve Jobs and Apple, the start of this multi-billion business empire was sparked by nothing else but intuition and instinct. No one betted on personal computers when Steve Jobs fronted the first Apple Macintoch machine. There was no data or market research to back it. It was pure instinct and gut.

We all have this. Probably there are great ideas that are lying dormant with us. Some of these ideas could change nations or communities or revolutionize whole regions. We all have access to these kinds of ideas. The problem is that we simply brush them aside and move on to better things like putting food on the table and paying rent and school fees!

2. Knowledge Through Facts

Exposure is a great thing. A child who wants to become a barber probably is simply mesmerized just by that. If that child is exposed to more things in life, his ideas start to expand. That is the beauty of ideas. They are not limited. But how beautiful would it be when the knowledge we are exposing ourselves to is ostensibly to expand the intuition and instincts we had? For example Elon Musk took courses that would help him understand Space and all that is involved in there. This knowledge is what very many schools are offering today.

Unfortunately, the entrance of this knowledge is not linked to ideation. It is linked to just the gathering of the facts and not their interpretation and application practically. Formal education is good, but like Jim Rohn said one day:

“Formal education will give you a living but self education will make you a fortune”.

No doubt that whatever kind of education you will take on will increase the ideas that you have.

3. Knowledge Through Principles

Why is it that some people who earn a salary each month for 10 years consistently are having problems paying school fees for their children? Why is it that they are having money problems? Why is it that marriages of well-meaning spiritual people are on the rocks? It surely is not because of lack of facts, but it is for the most part, lack of application of principles. If you get ideas of the principles of how things work, you are in good books and well on your way to succeeding in life. Principles are fixed. Facts are variables. Therefore the greatest ideas that we ought to look for are based on principles and not facts. Principles govern every area of life. So in all our endeavors, it would be great to learn what works. This is where mentors come in. It is also where experience counts.

4. Knowledge Through Inspiration

One single word of inspiration is able to change the world. I have shared previously the story of Peter J. Daniels. At 26 years of age, the Australian was uneducated brick layer. His teachers had declared him uneducable. One day, he listened to the famous Billy Graham talk about the love of God. According to Peter J. Daniels, that day he realized that everyone was equal before God. That single dose of inspiration catapulted Peter to start educating himself. He bought three dictionaries, placing one in the toilet, one in his beat up car and one in the living room. He studied English, History, Mathematics, Economics, Finance and read more than 1000 biographies. He increased his capacity and grew an unusual mind. What was the trigger of it all? An idea that came to him from a word of inspiration through Billy Graham. Therefore, those of us who are in the Human Potential Industry should not tire doing our work. We ought to keep on inspiring people over and over again. We have no clue how many ideas we are disseminating. Our work is actually to dispel darkness (ignorance) by touting light (knowledge and ideas).

5. Knowledge Through Action

There is a scripture that I love. It says,

“The steps of a righteous man are ordered of God”

It does not say “the waiting…or the sitting….or the legs!” Steps denote motion. In other words, when you are in motion, God gives you direction. I do not know about you, but some of the greatest ideas I ever had were not raw. They were actually “by the ways” that “band-wagoned” on something that I was already doing. Action is the key. You seldom get ideas when you are bored and not busy. You get ideas when your mind is engaged and active. Enough said here.

We shall continue this thoughts in the next article.