Today, someone asked me about ‘eureka moments’. Like the moment when Mrs. Fields realized she could sell her cookies and make bank, or the moment Steve Jobs decided computers were his destiny.

The thing is… those moments never happen. Those are definitely movie-ready moments, things we create to encapsulate a story. But they aren’t real life.

In real life, people find things they like to do, and they do them, and then the find ways to monetize them. Even people like Tim Ferriss do it; he may prefer to travel the world studying MMA, but he was starting companies with products that reflected his real life, like study aids and weight-building pills.

If you’re waiting for your brain to back up your ideas with some movie-magic-moment confirmation, you will probably wait forever. Your brain is hard-wired to not take risks, and also, it doesn’t know squat, so how could it know whether your idea is good or not?

How to tell if your idea is good or not is to do it. You don’t even have to go whole hog. Just start small. Want to blog? Blog. Blog, and connect with other bloggers you like.

Want to make and sell jewelry? Just do that. You can sell on Etsy, you can sell in a local craft fair, you can just sell to your friends.

Want to go back to school for something? Just take one class, or go to some networking events. Or, if you’re not trying to be a doctor or something, just start doing it, and see if you like it.

And, yes, some of your ideas are not going to work out. That’s just real life. And that’s ok. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure, or a terrible person, or that none of your ideas are good ever. You are not your ideas. You are your actions, so act awesome after you fail, and you’ll be awesome.