Breakdown of A Bad Idea

Aight, I have the urge to help my people live a little better than yesterday, so I thought I'd put ya'll up on sumn a learned a long time ago.

Follow my lips now: a bad idea is NOT an idea that doesn't work.

You've got to learn some strange things in life. One of those things is that, many times, things will not go according to plan. You're going to experience disappointments. Period.

But what makes it work for you is if you can get up from those disappointments and roll with the punches. We have a hard time doing that. One of the reasons why is because when things go wrong we tend to think it's over, when it really isn't. There's just been a change in plan, that's all.

At my house, I let the milk spoil most of the time (not deliberately); I buy by the gallon and rarely finish off the whole thing because I live alone.

"So buying a whole gallon is a bad idea."

Nope. Because, when the milk goes sour, I make sourdough biscuits. That's never my plan, but I make it work.

You see how that works? A bad idea is not when a good idea doesn't go according to plan. It's not even when a good idea doesn't work at all; you'd be surprised what you can do with a big fat dud of an idea.

THIS is a bad idea: a bad idea is an idea that needlessly leaves you in a bad position.

The key word here is "needlessly". Most of the time, we have our worst ideas tryna do something that doesn't need to be done. And most of the time, those bad ideas are just substitutes for good ideas that we didn't like.

Perfect example:

You wanted sneakers, but you didn't want to get a job to buy them because it would take too long to make the money, so you either stole them or sold drugs to cop 'em. You have the want: the shoes. You have the good idea: getting a job. You have the needless desire: to get them quickly. You have the bad idea: stealing or slangin'.

And what makes stealing or slangin' for shoes so bad? For a $150 pair of shoes, you risk the following:

1. Falling out of God's favor by sinning.
2. Getting arrested for theft, having to pay bond, getting a record with the system.
3. Getting arrested for possession and distribution, having to pay bond, getting a record with the system, going to prison for 10 years.
4. Falling in with serious dealers, getting killed.

Each of those is faaaaaar more costly than some $150 shoes. That just shows you're too bad a businessman to be callin' yourself slangin'.

Now, it's a little different if you wanted something like... to eat... to pay medical bills... something you needed, feel me? But we'll get into that another time, cuz that's not you.

Usually, a bad idea can be spotted BEFORE it is carried out by its obvious and cred-day unfavorable consequences. Good ideas that go wrong usually don't come with sizable risks and impossible odds in the event of a miscue. Last night, it would've been a good idea for the Phoenix Suns to get a lead on the Spurs, then monopolize the clock by holding the ball til the last second on every possession. Even if the Spurs players fouled the Suns players, the possession switch works in the Suns' favor, as their shot percentage automatically goes up with foul shots. Instead, they opted to attempt to increase the lead with quick shots, in spite of their tendency to lose accuracy in the later quarters. Thus, hey turned a 90% wiinning situation into a loss. All because of a bad idea with high-stakes consequences.

(Hopefully that means something to sumbody besides Doc; I don't know if the rest of ya'll saw the game or not)

In closing, bad ideas are not ideas that don't work, but ideas that, in the case that they don't work, come with consequences that one can't afford. Whereas good ideas may not work, but won't destroy you in the aftermath.

Think Ahead, and You'll Stay Ahead, Plus You'll KEEP Ya Head B-J