You start everything and finish nothing
Each new idea steals the last one's attention.
Courses
Start with three things you can do today
How to decide which ideas are worth pursuing
Decide which of your ideas deserves the work.
Compare ideas against the same goal and constraints, then choose a test that can resolve an important uncertainty. Excitement is useful information, but it is not a substitute for usefulness, feasibility or acceptable risk.
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A starting goal
I generate plenty of ideas but struggle to decide which deserve attention. Help me compare originality, usefulness, and feasibility without dismissing unusual ideas too early.
Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.
Start today
Three things you can do before the course exists.
Useful on their own. The course is for when you want the whole skill, not just the first move.
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State a decision with real constraints
Original scenario: a volunteer group has six hours and a $60 budget to help neighbors exchange books. Options are a staffed monthly swap, a permanent book box or a simple borrower list. The figures are invented constraints for this exercise.
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Compare what each option requires
The swap needs a venue and people available together. The box needs permission, weather protection and maintenance. The list needs consent, contact-data care and a matching process. Without those facts, scoring excitement and cost alone would hide important dependencies.
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Choose the smallest informative next step
If venue access is the main uncertainty, check availability and cost before planning a swap. If safe maintenance is unresolved, do not install a box just because it seems cheap. Record the unanswered question and what evidence would change your choice. There is no universal seven-day waiting rule or requirement that every good idea have a weekend test.
- Best for
- Creativity
- Prerequisites
- None. Bring the situation you have.
- Course length
- 7 to 30 lessons
- Pace
- Yours. One lesson at a time, as often as you like.
- Format
- Read it, or play the audio
- Access
- Available on the App Store and Google Play, with an optional early testing list
Before the course is built
Setup asks about your situation first.
Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.
- What kind of ideas pile up: projects, products, writing, business ideas?
- Do you start too many, or none because you cannot choose?
- How many candidate ideas do you have right now?
Right for now
If any of this sounds familiar, start here.
You cannot choose so you do not
The list grows and none of it becomes real.
You dismiss the odd ones too fast
Feasibility wins early and originality never gets a chance.
Course arc
Where the course goes, in order.
Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.
01 / 06The decision and its constraints
Clarify the goal, available resources and uncertainty before comparing options.
Three useful lenses
Compare originality, usefulness and feasibility while stating what evidence each judgment needs.
Developing before judging
Giving each idea a fair minimum of work before comparing.
The unusual idea
Examine a less familiar option fairly without assuming unusual means better.
Choosing
Making the decision, and what to do with the ones you did not pick.
Staying committed
Working through the dip when a fresh idea starts to look better.
What changes
What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.
You will be able to
Compare ideas fairly
Weigh originality, usefulness and feasibility without one dominating.
Give strange ideas a hearing
Develop an unusual idea enough to judge it properly.
Commit
Choose one and let the others wait without guilt.
Ideas this course corrects
The cheapest idea is always best
Cost is one constraint. An inexpensive idea that fails the goal or creates unacceptable risk may be a poor choice.
A scoring table makes the choice objective
Criteria and weights reflect judgments. Explain them and inspect what the scores leave out.
Course questions
What to know before you start.
How to decide which ideas are worth pursuing: what can I do today?
State a decision with real constraints. Original scenario: a volunteer group has six hours and a $60 budget to help neighbors exchange books. Options are a staffed monthly swap, a permanent book box or a simple borrower list. The figures are invented constraints for this exercise. Compare what each option requires. The swap needs a venue and people available together. The box needs permission, weather protection and maintenance. The list needs consent, contact-data care and a matching process. Without those facts, scoring excitement and cost alone would hide important dependencies. Choose the smallest informative next step. If venue access is the main uncertainty, check availability and cost before planning a swap. If safe maintenance is unresolved, do not install a box just because it seems cheap. Record the unanswered question and what evidence would change your choice. There is no universal seven-day waiting rule or requirement that every good idea have a weekend test.
Is this a fixed course?
No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.
Who is this course for?
Compare ideas against the same goal and constraints, then choose a test that can resolve an important uncertainty. Excitement is useful information, but it is not a substitute for usefulness, feasibility or acceptable risk. It sits under Creativity in the Ideas & discovery part of the library.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.
How long does it take?
Most courses run 7 to 30 lessons. The course length is sized to what you asked for. You set the pace: one lesson at a time, as often as you like. Lessons can be read or played as audio.
Does this course award a certificate or degree?
No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.
Start today
Type it, answer a few questions, open Lesson 1.
A starting goal
I generate plenty of ideas but struggle to decide which deserve attention. Help me compare originality, usefulness, and feasibility without dismissing unusual ideas too early.
Want new features first?