Swing And A Miss

Are you swinging for a home run every time you pursue a new product or idea?

Do you find yourself striking out and heading back to the dugout to wait until you get another opportunity to swing for a home run?

There is a lot of effort involved in the swing for the home run. If you are expending that effort three times and you get no result, was it worth the energy? Could you have been better off swinging for the line drive that would get you on base?

If three players were to swing with the intent of getting on base, that would set the fourth player up for the opportunity to push one player into score. Had all of those players swung for a home run but struck out, the team would not be in any better position to score. The chances of the team scoring runs are higher.

Building upon base hits also provides you with a lot of opportunities to learn. It is a compounding effect, building on your previous actions. Every time you start a new project, you are the same person that started a project the last time. You learned from your previous effort and have the experience to make the adjustments needed.

Not all product ideas are going to be a home run. We are not all going to build the next Facebook or YouTube. We can, however build something that will make our lives better and help a small group of people.