My blog died.

I tried in vain to save it. Friends kindly came to its rescue, and for a while, it seemed like my little blog just…might…make it. I watched fire slowly creep back back into its eyes and, oh, how I began to hope! But, alas, in the end, neither my friends, network, nor myself could save it. WhatMovesYou.tumblr.com just didn’t have the strength to survive on its own, and I had to accept the sad, sad truth:  some ideas really should die.

Painful as that reality was, I have Adaptive Path to thank for teaching me how to gracefully let go. My first introduction to this zen-like state was via an unexpected phrase: “Kill your darlings”. The first time I heard those words at work, I was astounded that such brutality could be thrown around so casually amongst my coworkers. I shrank back in horror, wondering what kind of people I was working with. But, slowly, project by project, client by client, I began to understand that there are a plethora of good reasons to kill off a perfectly good idea. In fact, here are actual reasons my colleague have killed off their own darlings:

• It just didn’t fit. Awesome idea—wrong project.
• It was evil, preying up bad human tendencies.
• No one really needed it; it was a manufactured need.
• The good idea was only good to me.
• Someone had a better idea.
• Good idea, already been done by the competition. (Parity is not a strategy)
• It was not technically possible/easy.
• It would piss off a partner/customer/supplier.
• It was too expensive.
• When you only have time for 10 great ideas, the 11th goes.
• It did not actually serve the mission of the organization or needs of the user.
• It was just cool.
• It was a GREAT idea…in a vacuum.
• The client wasn’t ready for it (or the market or customers).
• It couldn’t be done to the level it should be to be successful or match our vision.
• I needed to let it go to allow it to evolve.

Every project has restraints and realities that can’t be ignored, no matter how much you want to pursue a particularly brilliant concept. To help mitigate that, it’s important to trust that there are always plenty of creative ideas where the last one came from. Otherwise, you’re working within a belief system of limits, which is certain to undermine creativity.

My favorite motto encapsulating this concept comes for a podcast I did with writer and public speaker, Scott Berkun: Don’t be so precious. The gist of our conversation was about taking risks with your own work by focusing on generation of ideas, rather than holding tight to one. “Don’t be so precious” is a phrase I repeat to myself often, particularly when I’m feeling stuck or attached, and it has helped me get out of many a creative jam.

So, in honor of all the awesome ideas that have died before, will die soon, or really should die, I’m having a funeral for my dead blog. It begins now, via this post, and you’re all invited to join me by submitting a comment in honor of a great idea you willingly killed off.