Review: Making Ideas Happen

On a bumpy plane ride from Johannesburg to Cape Town last night I finally finished reading Scott Belsky’s book, Making Ideas Happen. As a self-confessed productivity junkie, but a pretty poor exponent of complex productivity systems, Scott’s Action Method system and his supporting philosophy is right up my alley. Let me explain…

I’ve had a good crack at David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) system over the past year or two, and I’ve found it a little too complex for my liking. The contextual design (@home, @computer) simply doesn’t work for most entrepreneurs – whose work life and home life is a blurred line – or creative people, whose ideas are not limited to standard work settings. On the other hand I’ve tried various paper-based methods, which work better for me as a visual thinker, but I still miss an underlying structure.

Making Ideas Happen is based around the premise that ideas are everywhere, but it’s execution that counts – to quote Einstein, it’s “1% inspiration, 99% perspiration”. Scott’s Action Method system is purpose built for those in creative and entrepreneurial industries; a simple action-orientated approach to projects built around action steps, references and backburner items. I’ll let you buy the book to get the detail here.

But where the book excels is in the illumination of the key drivers behind the success of the best idea executors in global business. Scott covers the skills required to ‘kill’ ideas so as to maintain focus on the brightest and best ones; the role that communities play in keeping execution momentum; and the critical role of ‘self-leadership’ in building execution teams.

The key premise is simplicity and focus. Two core concepts that have defined the way that I look at effective productivity. So I’ll keep it simple: Read this book.

Buy it on Kalahari or Amazon. Follow Scott on Twitter here and check out the Action Method.