I’ve written earlier about taking ownership of your ideas.  I have tried to demonstrate that by taking the sole responsibility of your own ideas, you have better access to managing your potential.  I’ve also tried to show that knowing where ideas come from can empower you to action because nothing is in the way of you and your ideas.

What I haven’t really written about is why acknowledging ownership over your ideas is such a powerful concept that inevitably leads to action.

Action, I hope you agree, is the key to any endevour, personal or business.  It takes action to accomplish anything.  Even the greatest idea in the world is nothing if not paired with action.

Hopefully, it is reasonable and worthy action that is our goal.  I throw in “reasonable” and “worthy” to help pinpoint the need for purposefully focusing actions, not just moving out of pure desire to act.

Even if you have a solid actionable goal you still need to find the motivation to act.  There are countless examples of people who have wonderful ideas that never come to fruition because they could not find, or were unwilling to create the motivation to act.  And that is a big problem to face.

I argue that self-empowerment, based in reality, reason, logic and evidence is that motivation.  I also argue that ownership over our ideas is one of the best ways to that type of self-empowerment.

What type of images does the word “ownership” bring to mind?  For me, I see a home, not just a house, but specifically a home.  I went to Google and ran an “ownership” image search.  Apparently, I am not the only one who envisions a home.  Along with pictures of pie charts, families and hands, the image of a house or home stands out the most.  Since this picture seems so prevalant, I’ll use it to explain my argument.

Picture your ideal home.  Not just a house, mind you, a home.  And not just a home, but your home.  This home belongs to you.    It is yours to cherish and enjoy.  It is also yours to renovate, expand, renew and adapt as you see fit.  The possibilities are endless, of course.  Because it is your home.  You can do just about anything you wish to this home, even destroy it.

Because you own this home, it is important to note your responsibilities tied to it.  It is yours to maintain, it is yours to repair.  Should a storm rip off the roof, you will be the one to see it gets mended.  Should you lock your keys inside, you will be the one figuring a way to get back in.  Taxes, electric bills, plumbing issues… You get the point.  Ownership implies responsibility.

Responsibilities, even when not direct choices themselves, are tied to the choices you make as an owner.  They are a direct result of ownership.

And responsibilities have consequences.  In fact, anytime you have responsibilities, you have consequences.  Even if you chose to completely ignore your responsibilities as an owner, you will still feel the reality of consequences.  If you don’t fix the roof, you get wet.  If you don’t pay the electric bill, you lose power.

Consequences are the motivators for action.  People act due to consequences.  Take any Human Development 101 class and you will learn about the hierarchy of needs.  This hierarchy is established on the basis of consequence.  The harsher the consequence, the higher level of need it becomes.

I hope I am drawing a clear line and I hope I can phrase this clearly:  Ownership, through responsibility, leads to consequence.   Consequence directly motivates action.

So far so good?

Because of this line of thinking, I argue that taking ownership of your ideas, just like taking ownership of your home, will compel you to action.  If you are personally invested in your ideas, you the take the sole responsibility of owning them.  They are yours to maintain, expand, renew, adapt, cherish and enjoy.  Just like your home.

Conversely, if you feel that ideas are, “out there” or are somehow hidden from you, then you are losing ownership of those ideas.  You’re more like a renter.  (To keep the mawkishly sentimental analogy.)  You need outside permission or acknowledgement to change, develop or adapt.  The saddest part of that type of situation is how easily it kills motivation.  There is no need for this.

Your ideas are yours and they are free.  Do not be afraid to make them your own.  Do not be scared to adapt them, expand them, grow them and find ways to use them, for the benefit of yourself as well as others.

The art of creation is exactly that.  It is an art.  Fortunately, we all have an endless supply source from which to build.  Make sure not to waste that type of opportunity.