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Secrecy
"No sane scientist would write his results in plain language" - Francis Bacon, C13th
Don't tell anyone you can't trust about your idea, and get them to sign a non-disclosure agreement. You may base it upon this one. You may wish to remove the National Security clause. Note that this binds you to protect any secrets they tell you as well as what you tell them, and it only covers things that are not previously known.
Keep your secrets secret.
During the Industrial Revolution, the British government passed numerous laws to try to prevent the rest of the world beating us at our own game. They were trying to stop industrial secrets and even skilled workers from moving around the country, or abroad, so the foreign firms undertook "bizarre" methods to try and find out what was going on, such as bribery or plying workers with drinks. These laws didn't work, and by the time the last was repealed in 1843, the competition was keeping up nicely. Today, as no such laws exist, and the UK government actually moves to make secrets illegal, and technology has marched onwards, the extravagant creations of the Paris catwalk are often found on market stalls before the fashion show launch, and even when secrecy has been maintained, digital cameras will beam the pictures via modem to a far-east factory where workers will, for just a few Dong, turn out a reasonable copy which can be sent back for sale the very next day for thousands of dollars. Of course, in this situation, Copyright and Trade-Mark laws offer good protection, along with anti-fraud legislation. The situation is much more cloudy if the goods are secretly copied before the launch, however... Even if you are not a designer you can still be caught out in a costly way if someone leaks something sensitive. Politicians find this out every year, but so do some advertisers. A few years ago, a major television advertising campaign had to be cancelled at great cost due to a competitor launching their campaign the previous week, featuring the same piece of music. This cost the company hundreds of thousands of pounds, and lost them all the advertising exposure they wanted for their new ventures. Of course, they couldn't sue anyone, as they couldn't prove that anyone had leaked it, or copied it... Likewise a designer who gets cloned before his design hits the shows cannot very often claim he was copied.
Keep your cards hidden
If you tell people what you have, protect it first, but don't make the mistake of hinting at what is coming next. If you use a PC to do your work, make sure that it is secure, both physically and electronically. Use encryption, it stops even a determined thief or government. If you use an internet connection, do like me, and install a firewall, to hide the very existence of the machine to snoopers and if you don't need to be on-line with that machine all the time, don't be. Without a connection, even the best hacker can't get into your PC. Password protection on startup, and a steel cable to stop the harddrive being stolen are all useful, and will slow down or deter a casual housebreaker or opportunist thief. Of course, you want backups of your data too, as a virus or fire will very quickly destroy anything you have written. A small fire extinguisher is a very valuable asset if a fire breaks out whilst you are in, as are a couple of CD's or Floppies with a text copy of your thoughts or invention if fire breaks out while you are out. Remember, your insurance only covers physical things, not Intellectual Property. Daily back-ups stored off-site are also useful if you are in the USA and need to prove you were first to invent. Elsewhere, having a set of notes typed up is a great start when aiming to be first to file.