Once you plant a seed you have placed something in the ground which may then grow into a life. The same thing seems to happen when you express an idea.
Just having the seed or the idea is not enough - they have to be planted/expressed in order to interact with the sun/earth/rain/energy enough to grow and bloom. Just as a seed left in a packet in a drawer will never bear fruit, an idea that is kept inside your head will not lead to anything. But once you've spoken it or put it in writing baby, it's OUT THERE and therefore, doesn't actually belong to you any more.

I think it's also called the 'Hundredth Monkey' effect - apparently they have done experiments with this. If there is an island populated by monkeys and if you teach one monkey a skill, soon all the perky primates will learn that skill. But it doesn't stop there. If there is a neighbouring island that your skilled monkeys have no way of getting to, the monkeys over there will somehow over time adopt this new trick as well! It's like once the knowledge is out here, it's anyone's.
Now I have a feeling that the ideas can somehow transmit. I don't know how, (power through consciousness? telepathy?) or why, but what I do know is that I have experienced this 'plant a seed effect' countless times.
And the funny thing is, just like a seed, with ideas there is an element of luck.

Or you could plant a seed, nurture it with compost, water it with seaweed tea, sing to it and send it love. It can grow big and strong, then just before it blooms - a hungry wallaby comes across it, breaks the netting and chomps off it's head. Or it gets hit by lightning. Or your toddler pulls it out to make 'potion' with. (You get the picture!)
So, I guess what I'm trying to say with my seedy metaphors is;
if you have an idea, especially a good one, act on it quick before it slips away because once you have let it out it is PUBLIC PROPERTY. Put the work in, enjoy the process and bask in the glory (ha ha not really but sort of).
But don't get too attached to it because it doesn't really belong to you!! I am sure all the copyright lawyers are cringing reading this (and please, if you are a copyright lawyer, leave a COMMENT because that would be hilarious!), but it's what I believe.
It happened like that for me with home schooling. I had the idea for years, just as a concept really. But it was there in the back pocket. It popped up now and again and was usually shot down or put away. But one day, the planets aligned and the time was right to give it a go....one day a week! This gave the idea strength and I gave it fertilizer by researching/googling/talking to people about it. It grew bigger and brighter until it bloomed open and bright and ......here we are.
So plant a seed. Nurture an idea. And share it without fear because you never know.....even if you don't water it someone else might!