I’m about to propose an idea I know many people won’t like. And the idea is this: There are times it’s better to leap without looking. Sometimes, too much research is a bad thing. There are times you need to start a new business without fully knowing your competition and business climate. Follow me before you crucify me.
Rewind a few years ago when I was working on my first stage design. Our team had an idea for simple white columns that we could light with LED fixtures. It would be extremely versatile and relatively inexpensive. Check out the result if you’re interested. We create steel columns that we wrapped in multiple layers of spandex. It took us about two weeks with the help of a welder, a carpenter, and multiple volunteers with staple guns.
A few months later I started a website about stage design. I posted up the design and began posting others’. I discovered quickly that we could have done it cheaper, faster, lighter, cleaner, better…you name it. We did it wrong.
You could say the stage design was a failure. Or you could say it was an opportunity for learning. But I say there was something far more valuable that came from the experience.
I started a website that now brings in over half of my personal income.
If I had done all the research and done everything correctly, I probably wouldn’t have seen the need to start the site. My brief search for knowledge before we started the project yielded the fact that the information wasn’t easily available. If I had kept digging I would have found it and forgotten that fact.
But because of my minor failure, I saw a need I could meet.
I found an opportunity in failure that I wouldn’t have seen in success.
So I’m saying this. Maybe you should start on that big idea you have. Maybe you should stop researching and just do it.
Now, yes, there’s wisdom in research. But too much knowledge can sometimes keep you from greater discoveries.
There. I said it. Now crucify me if you must.
I love it. Actually there is a name for too much research – the Paralysis of Analysis.
(I think Martin Luther or Billy Graham first came up with that term. When in doubt, attribute it to them and it makes it officially a smart saying.)
Those who know me know I am never paralyzed by looking into things too much before I jump and, like you, it has worked pretty well for me.
Great post.
I agree! Right now we are nearing the end of a huge project: creating our own DVD curriculum. I’ve only been a Tech Director for about 4 months, so I am a bit inexperienced, but I was up for the challenge and said yes and dived in. We are going to finish with something I am spectacularly proud of, no doubt. However, it *has* been a learning experience and if we ever decide to do this again, I will know how to make it go by smoother and will finish with an even greater product. But I am right there with you. Sometimes learning cannot be fully accomplished with research alone, but with a giant leap of faith.