There are a couple of main points of view on this. One is: the more ideas the better, as it increases the odds that you’ll come up with a really good one. The other is: too many ideas causes distraction, indecision and loss of focus.

As I see it, these two views really aren’t in opposition, even though they seem to be. That’s because they apply to different stages in the creation of a new business.

During the time before you start your business, when you are working out what you want to do and looking for your best business idea, then the more ideas you have access to, the better. More ideas means that you can combine them, use them to spark better ones, investigate areas you might otherwise never have thought of, and generally improve the chances that the idea you settle on in the end will be one which has a good chance of success for you.

Once you’ve started work on your business, though, new ideas for different businesses are indeed a distraction. Focused action is what you need at this stage - you have an idea, you have a plan, and acting on the plan is the number one priority. While it’s pretty much guaranteed that you will indeed have new ideas during this time, writing them down and setting them aside for consideration later is a good strategy. You can keep your creative brain happy by scheduling yourself a regular “new ideas” time when you go through the notes of inspiration and consider which could be worked into your plans, which have good future potential, and which can be filed in your “someday - maybe” file for later (maybe much later… maybe never!). The important thing is not to be distracted by the newest shiny idea, but to give your planned idea enough time and action to bear fruit up to its potential.