Obvious to you. Amazing to others.

I originally read about this in a book entitled “Hell Yeah or No” by Derek Sivers.

Any creator of anything knows this feeling: You experience someone else’s innovative work. It’s beautiful, brilliant, breath-taking. You’re stunned. Their ideas are unexpected and surprising, but perfect.
You think, “I never would have thought of that. How do they even come up with that? It’s genius!”
Afterwards, you think, “My ideas are so obvious. I’ll never be as inventive as that.”
I get this feeling often. Amazing books, music, movies, or even amazing conversations. I’m in awe at how the creator thinks like that. I’m humbled. – Derek Sivers

Recently on a coaching call I had shared my point of view. Nothing spectacular. Just my ordinary thoughts.

My coachee said “That’s genius. I never would have thought of that. How did you even come up with that?”

Of course I disagreed and explained why it was nothing special.

But afterwards, I realized something surprisingly profound: Everybody’s ideas seem obvious to them.So maybe what’s obvious to me is amazing to someone else?

We’re clearly bad judges of our own creations.

We should just put them out there and let the world decide.

Are you holding back something that seems too obvious to share?