Outsiders and asking why

Sometimes it takes an outsider to question the way things are done.

A famous story told by Zig Ziglar involves a newly married woman who cuts off the ends of a ham before baking it. Curious, the husband asks why. She explains that her mother always did so and that was the way it was to be done. Still curious, the husband asks his mother-in-law why she cuts the ends of the ham off before baking, and she too explained that it’s what her mother always did, and she assumed it was the proper way to do it. Now overwhelmed with curiosity, the husband phones grandma to ask her why she always cut the ends of the ham off. Grandmother explains that she always did so because it was the only way to make a ham fit in her small oven.

Are you asking why enough?

Simplicity and brevity

Creating something simple and brief often takes more effort, work, and time than creating something complicated and lengthy.

My idea already exists

When an entrepreneur finds that their idea isn't already "taken," there is ostensibly reason to rejoice.

The assumption is that they've happened upon a truly great idea because it is a truly unique idea. However, many of the great ideas and products that now compose modern life were not the first of their kind. The iPhone was not the first phone with an internet connection. It wasn't the first phone that could send and receive email. It wasn't the first phone with a camera. It wasn't even the first phone that could store and play music.

Imagine if Larry Page and Sergey Brin had concluded that there was no place for what became Google because search engines already existed.

Many great ideas are innovations of already-existing ideas.