We’re constantly bombarded with stories of people who are doing incredible things and it often makes us think we need a big idea to get started. However, it’s often the little ideas that lead to big things.
Picture: Mayr/Flickr
As author Scott Berkun points out, little ideas can be useful enough if you present them in the right place. Making your office run 10 per cent more efficiently, cooking your food in a slightly easier way, or even inventing a device that allows you to take selfies in a somewhat easier yet more visually obnoxious manner. All these ideas have one thing in common: they solve small problems, instead of trying to change the world:
Rather than worrying about the size of an idea, which most people do, it’s more productive to think about the possible leverage an idea has. To do this requires thinking not only about the idea itself, but how it will be used. An idea can have a different amount of leverage depending on where, when and how carefully it is applied.
It may feel a little futile to spend your time working on something that won’t see a huge audience. On the other hand, you don’t want to put in less effort than the creators of the selfie stick, do you? Don’t wait for a big idea to get started. Just get started.
Why Small Ideas Can Matter More Than Big Ideas [Scott Berkum via 99u]
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