Finding Out You Are Not as Smart as You Think

I am sure this is something that happens to many of us, a moment when you realize you aren’t quite as smart as you thought.  This can happen when someone proves you wrong or when a great idea turns out to be a terrible one.  For me it’s often in the form of a “great idea” that someone else already thought of.  The moment the idea is born, I feel very clever and smart.  The moment I learn that I am late to the party, I feel a little dim-witted.  The moment that I realize that not only did someone else think of it, but so did others and a very long time ago, I feel the size of a peanut.

One example is the community of digital nomads.  When I came up with the idea to travel for extended amounts of time, while still working, I thought I was so clever.  I was also so very late with that idea and not very clever at all.  I found that there is a term for a business that can be operated from anywhere – location independent business.  There is also a term for the long-term or extended-stay traveler that works at the same time – digital nomad.  There was also almost an entire industry of travel bloggers that do just that.  Travel, work and earn money while seeing the world.  In this case, I was late to the party, but being late gave me an opportunity to see what worked and did not work for the individuals that were already doing it.  It made me more prepared when I travelled and worked.

In the above case it was actually a good thing that I was late.  I was late, but I learned something from being late.  The same can be applied to new products and services ideas.  If they already exist, being late will allow you to research the flaws and benefits of what is already existing.  It can help you to make a decision to abandon that idea or improve upon what already exists.  Aha…now I feel clever again!