Over the last few years I’ve found it helpful to keep a list of ideas I’d like to turn into reality. I don’t tend to share it with anyone, but I return to it regularly to add, review, and to make notes about which ones I’ve begun or completed.

One thing that makes it helpful is that at some point nearly every one of those ideas has been met with skepticism, criticism, or the flat statement “that can’t be done.”

When people say “it can’t be done,” sometimes they’re right. Often, they’re tired, or not able to imagine changing a cultural habit, or tacitly committed to some part of the status quo. I get that.

Having a list of creative ideas—and having notched some successes along the way—allows me to take their words as a way of saying “I’d rather not be involved.” Which is fine.

For the record, most of my ideas are not world-changing. They tend to be simple, like building an outdoor classroom made of local stone, and then teaching others how to do the same.

Some folks told me it would be too difficult, or that picnic tables would do just as well. You know who loved the idea? My students and recent alums. Now we have it built, and we helped two more local schools build their own.

This week I was on a zoom call with educators in several states who wanted my help with building their own outdoor classrooms. I’ve had many such calls in the last year and a half, and I love it.

Some of my ideas are probably unrealistic. In a way, I do want to change the whole world. I’d rather tinker than disrupt.

I’ve got my students planting gardens rather than tilling the whole campus. Each garden is an experiment, a lab, a classroom. Some will fail, and I want to help them fail successfully.

I’m writing all this in hopes of encouraging you if you’ve had a creative idea and you’ve been told “it can’t be done.” Don’t ignore the critics entirely. They might have a point. But don’t take them completely to heart, either.

Write your idea down in a stable place, and allow yourself to revisit it. Edit it over time, always adding, rarely taking away. Let it grow, and see what blossoms appear. It might be that one of those blossoms is ready to bear some good fruit to share with others.