This is a concept that I still struggle with, and I’m not entirely sure I’m correct about.
Despite the fact that you may identify an unsolved problem or market niche, and have some ability to execute on it, does not mean that you should solve it.
In addition, if you do come up with a minimum viable solution that the market accepts, it does not mean that you should be the one to continue solving the problems your customers experience year after year.
When you solve a problem that you are not passionate about or that is not the right problem for you, you end up building a kind of trap around yourself.
You need to keep delivering a high quality service and you need to keep improving the product. Otherwise, your customers, who are giving you their hard-earned cash, will get angry. If you have investors or employees, the pressure is tenfold.
It feels weird to want to just give up the project. After all, it’s making money! You might say “get a partner”, but sometimes it can be hard to find someone who wants to take over or that you’d feel comfortable handing the reins to.
The main issue is that it ends up sucking up so much of your time that you are not able to concentrate on whatever it is you are passionate about or do best. By focusing on only the problems you are passionate about, you will help avoid this pitfall.
When you’re starting out, it might not be as important, because you just want to build up your confidence that you can make money from your own business endeavors, but once you have, it’s paramount you only focus on the work that matters. Cut out everything else.
Along the same line of thought, in the same way that musicians sometimes want to be like trending famous music artists, entrepreneurs sometimes mistakenly measure themselves against other famous entrepreneurs and try to create clones of existing products or follow a similar path to other entrepreneurs.
There is a fine line between admiration and imitation. I think admiration or looking up to inspiring figures is always healthy, but imitation is deadly. Ultimately, it will lead you astray.
So why am I telling you this?
Time is the most valuable asset. At the end of the day, we tend to feel satisfaction from the actions we take and the results they produce.
When optimizing someone’s ability to contribute, whether it is yourself or one of your employees, you need to set their focus on the problems they are passionate about.
Yes, there will always be the tasks that are mundane and that require mindless action, but for any kind of critical thinking task, I think passion is of the utmost importance.
Given enough time, hard work and passion along with a healthy dose of trial and error will trump intelligence every step of the way. It’s a fact. Disagree? Leave a comment below!