The Psychological Trap

How Entrepreneurs Kill Their Chance To Innovate

The entrepreneurial innovation process can oftentimes be so frustrating & unfruitful because it completely goes against how entrepreneurs naturally think. Entrepreneurs are instinctually led by a vision of a finished product or service that becomes so clear in their head that it drives them forward into their journey.

Eventually, this vision becomes an obsession because it’s used for daily motivation and for storytelling. Overtime, the vision itself takes center stage over the problem and manifesting it into reality trumps building the right solution. This is the psychological trap that can lead to a sort of personal reality distortion field where the entrepreneur finds themselves forcing the solution to take shape in ways that only supports their originally intended vision.

Unfortunately, innovation cannot truly live in this environment because true innovation is born out of a less ridged and more organic process. One that is shaped through experimentation, iteration, and human empathy. To be truly innovative, one must allow the process to embody a state of controlled fluidity. A state that is not married to any particular outcome but more to a particular process and problem. By using the problem as a North Star and the process as a compass you can eventually guide yourself towards a better destination, aka solution. To allow the solution to organically develop without forcing its outcome but instead relying on customer discovery, insights and iterative experimentation to help guide its formation is truly the most effective way to innovate.