Is your idea making you cranky?

October 20, 2025

How is it possible that a big idea can be so exciting and make you so dang tired at the same time?

There is a special kind of crankiness that can show up as a result of having both of these dramatically different experiences (or “cognitive dissonance”) at the same time in your mind.

Most of us have learned to call this special sort of crankiness simply “overwhelm,” and that’s actually a great way of describing it.

I’ve been helping people work on their ideas for most of my life, even when I was a tiny little kid (I’m not kidding), which means I was doing it long before I started calling myself a business coach. One of the things I realized early on is that we aren’t taught how to nurture and develop ideas, so we get easily overwhelmed by them.

FYI, when I say you might be experiencing “overwhelm,” here are just a few ways that could show up:

• Idea just feels “too big”

• Don’t know where to start working on the idea

• Worried people will laugh at the idea

• Afraid of being judged for the idea

• Concerned about committing to something that isn’t perfect or polished yet

• So. Many. Details to figure out!

• Systems may be in place that can make it very difficult to develop the idea (racism, patriarchy, ableism, poverty, cronyism, and well, I could make a looooong list here…)

• So much going on in the world that your idea seems puny by comparison

• It’s completely new to you and there are so many things to learn before developing it

• Distracted by other things and feel guilty for not working on the idea

• Impatience to get moving but stuck on figuring out a good starting place

• Can’t commit to a pace that’s “fast enough” (again, whatever that means) so think giving up is the only choice

• Not sure how the idea will make money so stop working on it

• Daunted by the mere thought of having to market the idea

• And sometimes, it’s just the timing feels exhausting and too draining

In my “Spark Your Idea” workshop, I give you a step-by-step process to identify whatever your particular brand of crankiness or stuckness or “overwhelm” looks like. And I’ll help you decide on next steps to meet your specific needs so you can keep developing your idea.

Half the magic of the workshop really is the structure and guidance I provide for participants every step of the way. The other half is split between you showing up and my considerable experience coaching people just like you.

If you’ve got an idea you’d like to nurture, I’d like to help you do it through my Spark Your Idea Workshop.

My Spark Your Idea Workshop (details here) might be for you if you’ve got the itch to start something new or make a shift in some way including:

• Introduce a marketing idea or campaign

• Write a keynote speech

• Plan a new program or business

• Develop a work of art

• Move an existing program or idea in a new direction

• Offer your services to a new audience

• Become a coach or consultant

• Write a book

• Begin a community organization

• Start a blog, podcast or youtube channel

• Offer a course or design a curriculum

There’s no rush to register; get more details here. I’ll be presenting the workshop first on December 4th and you’ll have two opportunities to attend (you’re even welcome to attend both if you like). I’m offering an equity pricing structure, as I almost always do, so that cost won’t be a barrier.

Also, I have a favor to ask of you: please keep recommending me to friends and colleagues who might need a business coach or strategic planner (my specialty as a planner is small shops) or of course folks who might be interested in my Spark Your Idea workshop. My equity pricing structure means I can help most folks and I have extensive experience, especially in the area of social justice. Some of my clients run high-revenue businesses, while others run non-profits or part-time or one-person businesses.

I try to be transparent about my identity as a white, cis-het, middle-class, non-disabled woman in the U.S., because I think it’s important for my potential clients to know. I often get to work with people who have identities that differ from mine, and together, we are building a more just and equitable world where our lives and work are much better because of it.

Here’s to sparking YOUR idea,

Kay Coughlin, CEO and Business Coach, Facilitator on Fire