Let things sit for a while
/The future is extremely hard to see through the lens of the present. It's very easy to unconsciously dismiss the first versions of something as frivolous or useless. Or as stupid ideas.
Two interesting stories from Dustin Curtis that illustrate perfectly how dangerous making rash judgements and jumping to conclusions can be.
They also remind me of a rather excellent book that I'd recommend: Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind by Guy Claxton.
It's very very easy to get in the habit of immediately starting to analyse ideas we're presented with and responding with criticism the moment our thoughts are formulated.
Even if we just do this internally - the moment we apply a negative tag to an idea, even just mentally, we kill it.
Sometimes it's a lot better to pause... and let things sit for a while.