Everyone knows it already

I used to be enamoured with doing things that hadn't been done before, which is well and fine when you are breaking new grounds as a researcher. My problem was that I wasn't nuanced in my application of this desire. Heck, I wasn't even aware of it at times.

I distinctly remember in the early days of Glints, as well as 4PM (a strategic initiative I headed up at its inception), I would get annoyed in my research when I discovered whatever idea I had come up with had been done before. A suggestion from my cofounders that a lot of successful companies just copy, or don't even innovate that much, constituted an offence to my groundbreaking sensitivities. Very soon, I was mired in inaction, constantly searching for that new new thing that no one has done before. Needless to say, I failed miserably in releasing anything of note, and had to reevaluate my subconscious beliefs.

In my personal life, this lesson also manifested itself. I had been a lifelong reader of personal development books, but there came a point when I wasn't learning anything new anymore. I was disillusioned - is this the high point of personal development? If so, what an illusion. I don't feel especially happy, wealthy or effective.

It wasn't until I read a quote James Clear shared in his newsletter that these 2 life experiences crystallised for me.

Everyone knows it, but is everyone doing it?

From then on, my focus switched from the junk-eating-like consumption of the new new thing to the slow and lifelong journey of taking action on what I already know.