Good Ideas vs. God Ideas
A good idea may come to pass. A God idea will come to pass.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Storey starts from the research figure of roughly 50,000 thoughts a day and warns that any of those thoughts can become a choice. Krispy Kreme's hot light turning on is a thought, not an instruction; meeting an attractive person is a thought, not a relationship. Some of those thoughts are good ideas, but a subset are what he calls God ideas — revelations that are God-inspired and therefore God-endorsed. He deliberately frames it as a conditional for skeptics: if there were an omniscient God, an idea from that source carries different weight. The operational payoff is a single line — a good idea may come to pass, but a God idea will come to pass — which turns the framework into a filter for what deserves your full commitment.
Origin
Storey holds a doctorate in world religion and a master's in psychology, and the framework grew from his seminary years and decades of coaching people who were, as he puts it, drowning in good ideas. He says he personally operates his life on God ideas 'because I sure do hear a lot of good ideas.'
Core principles
- 01You get roughly 50,000 thoughts a day — the filter matters more than the flow.
- 02A thought can become a choice, so guard the gap between the two.
- 03A good idea is merely available; a God idea is inspired and endorsed.
- 04Good ideas may come to pass. God ideas will come to pass.
- 05Operating on God ideas means declining a great many good ones.
How to run it
- 1
Separate the thought from the choice
Of ~50,000 daily thoughts, most are just traffic. Storey's rule: just because you have the thought doesn't mean you should pull into the Krispy Kreme parking lot. Insert a gap between arrival and action.
Watch out The thought becoming a choice by default is the whole failure mode.
- 2
Classify: good or God
A good idea is something you could do and might succeed at. A God idea is a revelation — inspired from outside your own appetite, and therefore endorsed.
Pro tip Storey's non-religious framing: if an omniscient source gave you the idea, it carries information you don't have.
- 3
Apply the may/will test
Ask whether this is an idea that may come to pass or one that will. The certainty in your gut is the tell, and it is what justifies staying with something through the discovery phase.
- 4
Read closed doors as routing
When a God idea is real, the failed sub-attempts are not refutations — they're the 'how' being sorted out. Storey calls this being in the discovery zone.
Pro tip Ask 'what is the God idea and what is merely the how?' when something falls through.
Watch out This is not a licence to ignore all negative evidence. Storey still weighs pros and cons before leaping.
- 5
Decline the good ideas
Operating on God ideas means saying no constantly. Storey turned down a $1.7bn backer's money to keep his movement true to itself.
In the wild
Storey reads his host's own history back to her: she interned at Hot 97 unpaid for a long stretch, nearly worked with Sway, nearly landed an MTV show — and each fell through. She had said she wanted the biggest podcast network without knowing what that meant, and built it piece by piece over five years.
→ Storey's read: the God idea was 'make an impact'; the failed doors were God closing one to open another. Had those jobs worked, the network would not exist.
A friend worth about $1.7 billion called Storey out of nowhere about Lead with Love: 'I've got the money, you got the gift. Let's go.' Storey told him to put it on hold, to the man's shock, because he didn't want the movement to become about fast monetization.
→ Storey kept building block by block and plans to bring the backer in later as a businessman rather than as a shortcut.
Common mistakes
Treating every thought as a mandate
50,000 thoughts a day means 50,000 chances to derail. The thought becoming a choice without a filter is how people end up in the wrong business and the wrong relationships.
Abandoning a God idea when the how fails
The mechanism failing is not the idea failing. Storey's whole point about the discovery zone is that closed doors are the route, not the verdict.
Confusing excitement with revelation
Good ideas are exciting too. The distinguishing mark Storey names is conviction and certainty — 'will come to pass' — not enthusiasm.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and creators drowning in opportunity, and anyone who confuses novelty and appetite with direction.
Not ideal for
Contexts requiring a purely evidence-based decision, or people uncomfortable with a spiritual framing — though Storey frames it hypothetically for non-believers.
From the transcript
“We get about 50,000 thoughts a day. So in those thoughts, you have to be very careful because that thought could now become a choice.”
“A good idea may come to pass. A god idea will come to pass. So, I like to operate my life by God ideas because…”
“So, if some of those doors would have worked, I would not have the Hala that's sitting in front of me that is running an…”
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