My younger brother was within earshot, so I couldn’t speak to loudly.

“Thanks Santa,” I whispered to my Mom, arms wrapped around her in a sincere hug.

It was the first time I’d admitted to my parents that their secret was out. But this occasion couldn’t pass in secret. They, not St. Nick, had to know how truly thankful I was for the most anticipated and memorable Christmas gift of all time: The original, black-and-white, red-buttoned, ass-kicking GameBoy from Nintendo.

I hadn’t stopped talking about it since it was announced. As such, my parents had either,

• caved to my relentless daily requests,
• didn’t have any other ideas of what to gift me, or
• wanted to really exceed all my wildest dreams that Christmas.

It didn’t matter. Holding that small grey brick felt too good to be true.

One year later, that GameBoy was old news. I still played it daily, but craved something else. But Nintendo wasn’t advertising their next handheld gaming system, so I put pencil to paper and drew my idea of the perfect, next generation GameBoy.

This “Super GameBoy” idea had a color screen, chamfered edges, and index trigger buttons. It had a trapezoidal design with rounded corners to alleviate painful palm impressions.

Little did I know how ahead of my time I was.

A full three years later, Nintendo’s GameBoy Advance hit the market with a color screen, chamfered edges, index trigger buttons, a trapezoidal design, and rounded edges.

I was shocked, hurt, and felt like my idea had been stolen. Though I had the idea first, Nintendo would be the star. Nintendo would make $millions. It took years before I was old enough to recognize the important lesson in this experience...

If ideas alone were worth something, we’d all be millionaires. But they’re not. Implementation of those ideas into something of value is what’s worth something.

Ideas need implementation. Implementation requires execution. And execution requires action.

So, if you have an idea that could provide value to others, don’t leave your idea in a notebook. Take massive action, execute, implement, and turn that idea into reality.

Ideas are worth nothing if not implemented.

About the Author

Michael Mehlberg

CO-FOUNDER | TECHNOLOGY, ORGANIZATION, PRODUCTIVITY, AND BUSINESS GROWTH FANATIC

Mike Mehlberg helps Creators and Entrepreneurs build a vision for their life, developing the goals, habits, and routines to live their passion and grow their business with purpose and speed.

PS. The original GameBoy is still hands-down the best gaming device ever made. Portable or console. Period. End of story. Game over.