Not Every Good Idea Deserves My Time

Sept. 13, 2026
Honolulu, Hawaii

An evening at the Waikiki Yacht Club, Honolulu

I have no shortage of ideas. If anything, I usually have too many.

A new project can be exciting. A new possibility can make me want to act immediately. And when I know I am capable of making something happen, it is very easy to tell myself, “Why not?”

For many years, I thought this was one of my strengths.

See an opportunity. Make a decision. Get started.

But lately, I have been thinking about the other side of that strength.

Not every good idea deserves my time. That is a surprisingly difficult thing to accept.

We usually think we need to say no to bad ideas, unnecessary commitments, or things we don’t really want.

Those are relatively easy. The harder choices are between things that are all good.

A project may be interesting. An opportunity may have potential. Something may even fit perfectly with what I want to build in the future.

And still, the answer may need to be: not now.

I have been experiencing this in my own life recently.

There are many things I want to create. I am building my website, writing, developing new ideas, and thinking about what I want the next chapter of my work to become.

Almost every week, I can think of something else I could start. But I also have things I have already started that deserve to be finished.

And I am beginning to believe that finishing is its own kind of discipline.

Starting something new gives us energy. Finishing requires us to stay with something after the excitement of beginning has passed.

That may be where the real work is.

So these days, when a new idea comes to me, I am trying not to ask only:

Is this a good idea?

I am asking:

Does this deserve my time right now?

Those are very different questions. Because time is not an unlimited resource. Every yes quietly becomes a no to something else. I don’t want to fill my days simply because I can. I want to be more intentional about what receives my attention, what I choose to build, and what I choose to finish.

Maybe discipline is not always about doing more.

Sometimes it is about protecting our time, even from the good ideas.