When Do You Need to Stop Innovating?

Innovation can drive massive successes.  So therefore, more innovation is a good thing, right? Not always.

I’m the type of person who always likes to create new processes, new businesses, and always find a more efficient way to do things, so this is a lesson it’s taken me a while to learn.

Everything is a trade off. Life isn’t made up of decisions of what to do, but what not to do.  There are too many options vying for your time, and the successful have discovered on what they should spend their precious time.   If you’re constantly innovating, it is likely at the expense of capitalizing on something you’ve already created that works. You don’t have to be exceptionally smart to be successful, and neither does your idea. Some fantastic businesses are created on the “fast follower” model, where you find someone who’s doing something that is working well and quickly recreate what they’ve created.

Examples:

• Apple iOS  ->  Google Android
• Groupon  ->  Living Social
• Uber  ->  Lyft
• Domino’s  ->  Pizza Hut

Innovation is great, it’s exciting, and it can lead to lots of success.  Just make sure if you’re innovating, you’re not unnecessarily doing so at the expense of other easy opportunities available to you.