Sometimes I have good ideas. Other times, I have great ideas. And here and there I have fantastic ideas that I believe have the power to change the world and help billions of consumers have a better quality of life. It’s only later that I find out that these ideas and inventions have not only been created previously, but have been around for quite some time.

I tend to look for efficiencies in life that will help me do a larger amount of work in a smarter and more productive way. One day as I lounged around my apartment, I couldn’t help but notice the amount of stuff that cluttered up the counters, floors, and shelves of my home. It was getting to be that time where I needed to just take a few minutes and clean the place up a bit. However, since I am a male, I decided that procrastination was the best way to handle the situation at hand.

As I scoured the mess that was my apartment I began to ponder a device that might aid me in helping to make the area look presentable. I leaned back on the couch, closed my eyes, and began to dream of this machine that might help me clean, and yet put minimal stress on my body to do so. This magical apparatus would be able to lift all the dirt, cat hair, and crumbs from my carpets but wouldn’t involve me getting down on my hands and knees to do so. I imagined how this contraption might function, ultimately deciding that some type of suction would be necessary to provide the lifting power to pick up the grime and therefore it would also need to be combined with a storage compartment to hold the waste. I started to get excited by the prospect of such a machine and how if done correctly, I could probably build a prototype, market it, and make a million dollars overnight. I jumped up from the couch, excitedly grabbing a nearby piece of paper and a pen to jot down additional ideas and notes, along with some rough sketches of what this device might look like.

After a minute or so of doodling, I paused and examined what I had drawn on the scrap of paper. Completely shocked, it occurred to me that I would not be helping the world after all, and a million dollars was definitely not in my foreseeable future. I had not created a revolutionary new cleaning system of any kind as initially thought. Instead, I had simply reinvented the vacuum cleaner.

Now armed with the knowledge that I already owned such a device and that it was tucked away in a closet mere feet from where I sitting, I dragged the unit out, plugged it into the wall, and immediately pointed the hose attachment at the scrap of paper, sucking it into the depths of the vacuum and out of my mind for good.

Another day, as I lounged on my couch of ideas once more, watching television, I was trying to find some music videos that I could play as background noise while I accomplished other things. I’ve always been a big fan of music. I’ve been listening to it, appreciating it, and writing it for as long as I can remember. When I get into my car, I fire up the ignition and before adjusting the mirrors, buckling my seat belt, or taking any other kinds of safety precautions required for operating a several ton piece of machinery, the first priority is to get some good music going. I surfed around the television for a while but my inability to locate music on any channel began to bother me and my mind once again began to race. I started to dream of my perfect television channel that would only play music videos at all times of the day and night. It would be a station that was dedicated simply to the love of music and every genre imaginable would be represented.

Overwhelmed by my idea, I realized that I needed to share this eureka moment with someone who would also appreciate it. I immediately picked up the phone to call one of my music-loving friends, knowing that he too would see the value of this amazing idea and that maybe we could put our energies into pursuing it in hopes of making a million dollars. He answered the phone and I began spewing forth, in great detail, the idea that had come from my late afternoon stroke of genius.

As I completed my sales pitch to him, I didn’t receive the energetic words of encouragement that I’d hoped for. Instead, I was met only with silence on the other end. Knowing him well enough to realize that this silence meant that something in my idea was not nearly as bulletproof or fantastic as I’d thought, I began to retrace my words, trying to find the chink in the armor. While reciting the idea back in my mind, I too had the epiphany.

Once again, I had created an idea that was completely unoriginal and in fact, had originated almost thirty years prior. My friend was still on the line, likely waiting for me to have this realization so that he could relish in my ignorance. I paused a moment before confirming with him that I had indeed just reinvented MTV in the 1980’s. He responded that he was going to hang up now, claiming that he was so overwhelmed by my stupidity that he needed to go sit down.

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