Everyone loves to say that there are no bad ideas. This is wrong. There are millions, even billions of bad ideas. The key is to remember that bad ideas are often times a very good thing.

In John 12 Jesus said that “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it yields much fruit.” The part of the tree that is considered “dead” or “useless” is actually the foundation on which new life is built.

This is true in the work we do creatively as well. Yes, it’s true, we prune away at the bad ideas in order to discover the more juicy, fruitful ones. But we also must that the bad ideas we cut away have the potential to take root and resurrect into a harvest of genius. Think back to the last five bad ideas you threw out. Could there possibly be the potential for that failed project to be reworked into the next successful one?

Great artists know that your last bad idea is sometimes just the starting point for your next great one.