Someone Should…It would be awesome if…

I have a friend who likes to plan social events. He puts a lot of time and energy into it, and while everyone is very appreciative of this fact, there are friends among them who like to have ideas. Ideas that take a lot of work that they have no intention of augmenting. The end result is nothing more than an expectation that someone else does a bunch of extra work to do a thing you’d like to see done.

Entrepreneurship communities can sometimes be like this too, and it drives me crazy. There are a lot of armchair inanities that fly around, and almost without fail, they start with a variant of the phrase, “Someone should…”

Here are a few common ones:

• It would be awesome if…
• Wouldn’t it be great to have…
• Has anyone ever thought about…

We almost all do this from time to time. But you should gut-check yourself before you put that message out into the world. Every time you broadcast that sentiment, you’re potentially eroding your own credibility as a person who gets things done. Someone Should should be a red flag and a personal trigger for introspection.

In most cases, you actually could do something. You might not be the right person to take the reins, or it might not be the right time for you, and you just want to see a cool thing happen in the world. But it’s time to stop and ask yourself what you can do to give the idea a fighting chance and how you actively could support those who would do. Throwing out an idea in the hopes that someone else will do it is not helping. If you can’t do it yourself, don’t shout it from the rooftops so everyone can see how many great ideas you have. Go convince a real person and offer specific help.

Merely throwing a Someone Should out into the ether is an idle act of non-contribution. Have you ever seen a Someone Should casually tossed out into a conversation, especially a public one, that happened? I can’t recall one. Every time you find yourself about make such a declaration, stop and consider why you’re doing it and what you expect to happen. Step up and do some work, or consider shutting up and getting out of the way. We are all guilty of throwing out the occasional Someone Should. Be careful not to be a Someone Should.