Exploring the 100 to 1 growth ratio

Growth, in business and in life, starts with an idea, and there is no shortage of ideas. The average adult has 70,000 plus thoughts every day, many of those are ideas—ideas of tasks to do, things to try, stuff to focus on, different ways to do something, and etc. It can be quite overwhelming! Understanding a few things about these ideas and how to narrow down what to do with them is a crucial step to growth and success.

With a massive number of ideas running through our minds, they could be good, bad, maybe even fantastic or horrible. This is often called the idea filter. The challenge is that most people end up wasting resources on things that may not be the best. Every minute we spend working on or chasing an idea that does not help us is wasted, and we can’t get that minute back.

It is crucial to keep in mind that our two most precious resources—time and energy—are at risk of being wasted all the time by ideas that are not truly going to benefit us. We need to have some method, system, or process to ensure we can sort out these different ideas and only invest in the ones that have a high potential to contribute positively to our business and/or life.

A great way to do this is the 100 to 1 growth ratio. This lets us know that for every 100 ideas we have, only one is the best. We can take this concept and go backward in the filter and say for every 100 ideas, we have one that is good enough to move to the next level in the filter. If we think of it from this concept, we can use this to say, “Of every 100 ideas, we should only move one forward.”

The key is applying this to your own company, department, role, etc. Let’s use growing sales as an example. For every 100 ideas to grow sales, only one of them is the best; thus, only one of them likely deserves to have time, energy, and maybe money invested in it to see if it can truly help. So often we “try” too many things, and the more we try, the less we can focus on any one specific thing.

If we don’t build a system or methodology to filter these ideas, we can spend time, energy, and money to pursue things that are not truly going to help us.

Now let me ask, how do you and your team sort all the ideas you each get every day, week, or month? How do you ensure your time, energy, and money are not being wasted on the ones that are not the best? How do you adjust if you are on a path for an idea that is not the best? If you don’t know or don’t like the answers, find a business growth consultant who can help.