There is a great scene in the movie Oceans 12, where George Clooney and Brad Pitts’ characters are walking together in Amsterdam brainstorming ideas to make $198M in 2 weeks to pay back the casino owner they stole from in the first movie, Oceans 11. The two are career criminals, smart con-men that run elaborate heists to outsmart their victims out of money. It’s a very entertaining film.

But the reason I love this particular scene, is because of the conclusion the two come to after about 10 crazy ideas.

“We’re forcing it, aren’t we”

“Yup.”

The characters go on to talk about good times, when they just took gigs which made sense, planned accordingly, got the team together and then made it a complete success.

Our lives are no different. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, has a favorite saying in many of his speeches recently, praising the discipline that Google has in “sailing with the wind.” Google don’t try to push shit up hill…they simply watch where the wind is going. George and Brad have it right. Don’t force it. If  someone is selling you a grand vision, or you find yourself in a meeting where someone is talking about an idea and you can’t visualize it happening, then guess what. You’re forcing it.

Don’t force it. You have enough great ideas that enable you to sail with the wind and have an amazing impact. You just need to figure out which way it’s blowing, and then put up the sail.