Do you have an hard time getting new ideas? you’re not alone. For the majority of people the major obstacle seems not to be taking action, but actually knowing what to do in the first place.
Some time ago I started keeping track of everything that was annoying to me. Every time that I thought “There must be a better way to do this” I would stop whatever I was doing and write it down. I found this activity to be very valuable, and I encourage you to do it as well.
Last night I was discussing with a friend of mine about the importance of being an inventor and creating new things. We talked about how easy it is to just learn a craft, but how the real value lies on those who invent something new. That makes perfect sense if you think that to be a big player in every industry you have to be different which often means creating something new.
The question then is, where do inventors and startup founders get their ideas from? For most of them, they started from problems that they already had, and went from there. Most of the successful startup founders that I know created their business because they wanted to solve a problem that they already had.
Remember a few paragraphs above when I told you to start keeping track of the things that annoy you? If you do so, day after day you’ll organically grow a list of things that you don’t like, each of them representing a potential idea to pursue.
As you go through your list, you have to remember two things. First, not every problem needs to be solved, someone else may have done it already. Second, if something sucks for you, chances are it will suck for other people as well, which means there could be a business opportunity around.
The sky is the limit. Look around you, what do you think you could do better?