Big ideas are not in short supply. There are plenty of them. Good, well-thought-out, visionary ideas with the potential to become something great. Yet most of them stall. Not because people don’t want them to succeed, but because they never make it out of the mind and into the world. What starts as a glowing vision often ends up as a folder full of plans. And that, more than bad timing, lack of capital, or the wrong market, stops more initiatives than anything else.
I’ve met many entrepreneurs with a spark in their eyes and conviction in their voice — and I’ve been there myself. Sometimes, they are absolutely right. The ideas are solid, the timing is fine, the passion is real. Yet nothing happens.
The plans grow, the thoughts get refined, the PowerPoint decks fill up. Phrases like “what if we could also…” or “in version 2.0, we must have…” pop up. And then a month passes. And another. Maybe a year. Then another. Meanwhile, the idea keeps growing — but only inside your head.
Meanwhile, nothing happens out in the world.
Sound familiar?
- You’ve talked about your project for so long that you almost feel like it already exists — but there’s still no product.
- You can picture how you’ll make millions — but you haven’t made your first thousand.
- You have a folder full of plans, concepts, and future expansions — but nothing to actually show.
Welcome to idea paralysis. That comfortable place where anything is possible — but nothing actually happens.
And how many times have I heard, “Well, I thought of that years ago”?
What is Idea Paralysis?
You may not have heard of idea paralysis before — and that’s understandable. Even though the term has appeared here and there, it’s still rarely used or recognized as its own concept. But as I’ve written in earlier posts: Someone wrote the first books, and others are still writing new ones. Just because something isn’t common yet doesn’t mean we can’t start using it.
What I mean by idea paralysis is similar to what’s internationally known as analysis paralysis — a state where you become so overwhelmed by choices, scenarios, information, and potential outcomes that you can’t make a concrete decision.
But where analysis paralysis (read about it on Wikipedia here) usually describes general decision-making anxiety, I think idea paralysis fits even better when talking about visionary people with big ideas. Those who want to start something new but never quite get going.
Not because they lack will or ideas — but because they keep falling back into what’s safe and familiar.
Let’s say you’ve worked at a traditional photo agency for years and dream of building a digital photo-sharing platform. You know the future is digital. You’ve thought about it for years — maybe even mapped it out in detail in your mind.
Yet when it’s time to take the first step, you end up arranging another physical photo exhibition instead.
Not because that’s what you truly believe in — but because it’s where you feel safe. Where anything still feels possible, and nothing has yet been put at risk.
That’s idea paralysis in action. And it’s surprisingly common.
Idea paralysis rarely strikes those without ambition. It hits those who burn for what they believe in — and who have so many thoughts swirling in their heads that choosing just one to bring to life feels impossible.
It’s not about being lazy. Or not wanting it enough. It’s exactly because you want it so much, because you care so deeply, that you end up getting stuck.
We let ideas grow safely in our minds. But it’s only in the discomfort — in the uncertainty — that they have a chance to materialize and become something real.
The Psychology Behind Idea Paralysis
Psychologists point to several mental mechanisms that often appear together and reinforce each other.
Idea paralysis is not a sign of weakness — it’s a cognitive pressure state that affects many, especially the ambitious and creative.
When you want a lot, and see many possibilities, it creates a mental overload that makes it hard to choose one path and actually start.
Some of the main psychological triggers of idea paralysis are:
- Perfectionism
You don’t dare start until everything is just right — so you wait for perfect conditions that never come.
- Loss aversion
Choosing one path means saying no to all the others.
We fear making the wrong choice more than we look forward to making the right one.
- Information overload
You keep gathering knowledge in hopes of feeling certain.
But the more you know, the more complex and unclear everything becomes.
(This is closely linked to what psychology calls analysis paralysis, where overthinking and excessive planning lead to inaction.)
- Fear of failure
If you start and it doesn’t succeed, you might think you weren’t good enough.
Waiting feels safer.
(This fear is often amplified by impostor syndrome — the inner feeling that you’re not truly competent, and that you risk being “exposed” if you fail.)
- Self-doubt and comparison
You start believing others know more than you, and lose faith in your own judgment.
You seek advice but ignore your own intuition.
- The tyranny of safety
When the pressure gets too big, you retreat to what you know and master — even if it’s no longer strategically right.
You do what feels productive but is actually a distraction.
(This relates to what psychologists call choice overload and control illusion — where we choose the familiar over the right, simply because it gives a temporary sense of control.)
All of this leads to the same pattern: You feel busy. You do a lot. You think a lot. But you don’t actually move forward.
What feels like work — newsletters, brainstorming, design sketches, strategy — is often a way to avoid the one thing that really matters: action. The longer you stay stuck in this pattern, the harder it feels to break out. That’s why everything starts with awareness — and one small, concrete, real step. Less thinking. More doing.
And how many times have I heard: “I thought of that five years ago!” Maybe you did. But someone else did it. Because ideas mean nothing until they meet action.
A House Isn’t Built in Midair
I’m currently working on a project where we’re building a tech platform that could become Norway’s next big export success.
And one of the first things I said to the founders when I joined was: “We need to build a foundation big enough to carry an endlessly tall building. But we’re only building a small house to start.”
We need to launch a minimum viable product (MVP) — something that works, generates revenue, tests our hypotheses, and actually gets out into the world.
Because if we wait until the entire dream castle is ready, we’ll never launch. Or even worse: we build five floors, start to grow, and then the whole structure collapses at the sixth floor because we didn’t lay a strong enough foundation.
Then you end up in endless discussions about which technology to use here and there — which, in my mind, doesn’t matter at MVP stage as long as it’s modular and scalable. You can swap parts later. You don’t need to make all the long-term strategic decisions today.
According to Gall’s Law, all complex systems that work evolved from simpler systems that worked. Yet many entrepreneurs try to launch everything at once — and end up with… nothing. Complexity costs. Complexity stops you. You must prove the simple version works first.
And when we’re building the foundation, there’s one more thing we need to remember: communication.
A roadmap – a visual overview of what’s happening now and what’s planned for later – isn’t just helpful for keeping ourselves on track. It’s absolutely essential for getting others on board. Because when we show an architectural sketch of the final dream project, we should expect questions. If the webshop isn’t included, someone will ask why it’s missing. If it is included, someone else will wonder why it hasn’t been built yet.
This is where the roadmap does its job: it shows that we’re building with the future in mind, and that what we’re creating now is designed to support what’s coming next. It brings clarity around sequence, direction, and realism – and helps avoid unnecessary doubt and discussion. (I’ve previously written a bit about what a roadmap is, but I’ll return to this topic in another article soon – because this is a great example of why it matters in practice.)
Feel free to check out my article on what a roadmap is.
We lose focus and find comfort in the familiar
When you’re building something new, something you’ve never done before, it’s natural to seek back to what you know.
What feels safe. What gives you a sense of mastery.
I’ve seen it happen again and again: Instead of making the hard choices and starting with the foundation, people start talking about side projects. Newsletters. Logos. Future partnerships. Version 3.0.
It’s not because they don’t want to move forward, but because it’s easier to stay in the idea phase. Where everything is still possible. Where there are no demands. No risks. And no realities. But that’s also where most projects die.
We like to believe that if we just think a little more, prepare a little better, secure a few more partners, build stronger alliances, get better contracts, and increase the level of detail in the plans, everything will fall into place. We will have the perfect start.
But in reality, it’s like standing in a bathtub waiting for the perfect wave that never comes.
I’ve written about this before, in the article about not letting the perfect become the enemy of the good. I’ve been there myself.
Planned everything down to the smallest detail, only to see the product or service take a completely different direction along the way. Not because the plans were bad, but because the world and technology change so quickly — and because new people with experiences and skills that neither I nor my team had before came in along the way.
That opened up new solutions and opportunities, and made the end result better than what I had originally envisioned.
Sometimes you just have to start. Not because it feels perfect, but because it’s the only thing that actually creates momentum.
It’s a bit like building a car: The most important thing at the beginning is simply knowing you need a fast and reliable engine.
Not necessarily which type of engine, how many cylinders it should have, or exactly which brand to choose. Those details can come later, once you’ve actually started building. The most important thing early on is just making sure there’s room for an engine.
How to Break Out of Idea Paralysis
Perfection is often just an excuse to postpone action. Release your idea before it’s fully thought out, and let the market help you shape it. Here are three mindsets that can break the pattern — and many practical steps to get you moving.
1. Don’t get ready. Get started.
Don’t wait for everything to be ready. It never will be. Start with what you have. Now. Not next week. Not after another round of thinking. Make a plan — and stick to it. Decide what belongs in version 0.1, and what can wait for 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.
2. Think action, not analysis
As Shawn D. Nelson (LoveSac) says:
“The thing that separates the champions from the rest is action — and then sustained action.”
It’s not one big decision that changes everything. It’s many small ones.
An idea written down.
A prototype built.
A phone call made.
A meeting booked.
One thing. Over and over again.
Choose solutions that work now. Don’t wait for the optimal ones. Use tools that make collaboration, sharing, and testing possible right away — not after some future investment.
3. Break Down the Big Into Small Steps
Big goals can feel overwhelming.
Small steps are doable.
Break down your idea, or let others do it for you. But trust that they are keeping the bigger picture in mind, even if they don’t mention it in every meeting. A lack of trust often leads to uncertainty and a loss of focus, because people start worrying that something important will be forgotten. This often results in forcing elements into the plan that should really come later.
The result? Technical debt that could have been avoided.
Time and time again, I’ve seen half-finished features get pushed out — not because they were ready, but because someone higher up wanted to make sure their idea was implemented. At that point, it’s no longer the product’s needs that drive priorities, but the insecurity of the people around it.
In Conclusion – From Thought to Action
Idea paralysis is not the enemy. It’s a symptom. A sign that you want something deeply. That you care and have seen something others haven’t seen yet. And it’s precisely this symptom that stops most ideas from ever becoming reality.
And it’s not unique. It’s completely normal, and it happens to most people who sit with a good idea. But ideas alone don’t change anything. They need structure, momentum, and most of all they need you — not just to envision, but to build, lead, and execute.
I’ve personally worked closely with a visionary whose strength was seeing so far into the future that some might easily have underestimated him as just a dreamer. But he wasn’t. He was a smart visionary — and my role was to bring his ideas down to earth and make them real.
But sometimes, he couldn’t wait. He pushed new ideas into the development plan before the foundation was ready. The result? Everything took longer than necessary, because the focus shifted before we were prepared. It taught me an important lesson: Visions are necessary — but without structure and patience, you lose both speed and direction.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it was Petter Stordalen who once said:
“The biggest difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is that the ones who succeeded — tried.”
It really is that simple.
Not easy, but simple.
And maybe that’s exactly what you need to hear today.
So ask yourself: What can you do today that moves your idea one millimeter closer to reality? And then go do it.
Start where you are:
- Choose one idea — and say no to the rest (for now)
- Build a simple MVP — something that works, not something that impresses
- Test it in the market — with real people, not just friends
- Evaluate — adjust — try again
- Make one decision every day — even a small one
- Cut out the noise — unsubscribe from newsletters, clean up your workspace, log off
- Remember why you started — write it down. Read it often.
Success comes from what you do — not what you think about.
Dreams are wonderful.
Ideas are important.
But what drives real change is action.
Your customer won’t reward you for what you intended to do.
Your investor won’t care about your vision — if you haven’t started.
You won’t build momentum without movement.
So close the PowerPoint. Shut down the last browser tab. And do one thing. Not because you’re ready — but because it’s the only thing that will actually move you forward.
“If you’re going to fall, fall forward.” – Shawn D. Nelson
Do you recognize yourself in this experience of idea paralysis? Have you ever had an idea that grew bigger and bigger in your mind, but never quite made it out into the world?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear how you have experienced it – and what, if anything, helped you move forward.
Tomorrow, I will continue this thread and dive into another common fear that often holds us back: The fear that someone might steal our ideas. But is there really any reason to be afraid? Or does the true value lie somewhere else entirely?
Stay tuned!
