Create new vs. improve

I have made an observation. A pattern has emerged in both my professional and private life:

Most of them are very good at improving existing things. Only a few are good at creating new things.

Maybe you’ve been there: Your company is about to redefine a process and everyone ducks away until someone makes a suggestion for a new process. There is suddenly a lot of feedback on this new proposal from the entire – previously very passive – team. Some think it’s good, but have small suggestions for improvement, others say they would have done it completely differently. Others say: Anyone could have thought of that.

How does the person who made the suggestion for the new thing feel now? Most of us would not chalk it up as a positive experience.

Sometimes the knowledge that in hindsight everyone could have done better prevents us from implementing our ideas. The thought of seemingly never-ending suggestions for improvement paralyzes us. So we try to think through our new plans down to the smallest detail. We want to make it perfect before we go public with it.

Heinrich Kämpchen has provided the following fitting wisdom on this subject: “Whoever ponders and does not begin, time passes unused.”

The point is: you can reflect as much as you want. Someone will always find a way to improve your idea. This is not because you live in a world of negative critics, but because most people are better at improving what already exists than creating something new. This probably makes sense from an evolutionary point of view, as it was the Stone Age people who survived and slowly but surely developed the tried and tested.

Why is this insight valuable?

1. With this knowledge, we can better deal with suggestions for improving our ideas. The standard reflex of most people is to find fault with what already exists – or, to put it positively: to improve what already exists. It’s not because of your specific idea, but because of the way we humans act in principle.

2. We can respond appreciatively to the improvement reflex of others. A society in which everyone always has new impulses would probably end in total chaos. We need a lot of “guardian types” to keep our coexistence on an understandable path.

3. Even imperfect ideas can be made public. The collective “but I would have done it differently” attitude will lead to the idea being improved over time.

4. The knowledge that most people only ever improve what already exists and do not create anything new opens your eyes. Coming up with new ideas is apparently the rarer skill that needs to be driven forward with courage. Start with something and start implementing it straight away. Criticism will come one way or another.

Essence: Most people are very good at improving existing things. Only a few are good at actually creating new things. New ideas are therefore confronted with many suggestions for improvement. Instead of being put off by this, we can use this knowledge for ourselves and bring new ideas into the world with confidence, despite or precisely because of this.

When was the last time you created something new?