The Peculiar Case of Dumb Ideas

Have you ever started a project, thought about the concept for about 2 minutes, and then followed your first idea through to the end? Me neither. With every single project I get, my chain of thought evolves, because my original ideas are usually tacky and downright bad. And though I usually like my ideas when I'm finished, it seems the evolutionary road to that end product takes way too long. I just wish there was a way to speed up the process, rather than wasting all this time trying to determine a direction. Perhaps that comes later though: I once had an art teacher who told us that if you don't have a good concept, the end result won't matter. It's all in the ideas.