You have an idea you think, rather you know, is good, but others just don’t get it. What’s going on? More importantly, what should you do? Should you listen to them or follow your own conviction?

First, let’s tackle some reasons why others “just don’t get it.”

1. They don’t want you to succeed because they’re afraid you’ll change, and then they’ll “lose you.”
2. It’s a paradigm shift.
3. It’s too hard to imagine.
4. It seems like cheating - your idea creates an advantage because it does not follow common practices.
5. They think it’s too obvious.
6. The workings of the idea are too fuzzy for their taste.
7. They think it's too large and/or a complex project for you.
8. It requires people to change their behavior.
9. It’s too trivial.
10. It’s an off-putting subject.
11. They can’t identify with the problem.
12. They envy you and your idea, and it bothers them that they didn’t come up with such a good idea.

Now, let's take on your own belief in your idea.

Your belief has two main parts:

• Facts: These are things you know for certain (or in high probability).
• Intuition: This is based on your subconscious. It is the sum of all your knowledge and experience you gained in your life.

The clearer you see both facts and the base for your intuition, the more explicit you are about what these are, the more confidence you’ll have in your idea.

Innovative ideas have fewer known facts and more intuition (insights, hunches). People tend to not understand such ideas.

So when someone has a different view on your idea, simply be explicitly clear as to:

• why you are “for it,” and
• why are they “against it.”

The first point is much more important than the second.

To be truly confident in your idea, you need to see it clearly. Then, it’s easier to disregard others’ opinions. You’ll be able to immediately see when they are not relevant.

When you expose your idea to others, apart from wanting genuine input, it is also a test: do others also see how cool it is?!

This test is only of secondary importance.

When you explicitly know what excites you about it (clear facts and the base for your intuition), then your point of view matters more than what others think about it. Such explicit knowledge makes you confident and able to easily disregard people’s opinions.

This does not mean you should not listen to what others are saying. You can get valuable new insights from others. It does mean that that is secondary.

There is a higher level of confidence about your idea. It involves discovering its essence (that might surprise you even though you think you already know your idea). This is a very powerful tool that can help you find out and unleash the hidden powers in your idea.