I was sitting at my desk last Tuesday when the idea hit me again. The same nagging thought I’d been trying to ignore for weeks. There was a problem in my work that kept surfacing, and I finally admitted something simple: if this bothers me this much, it probably bothers other people too. That realization changed how I thought about instinct.
You should trust your instincts when a couple of variables line up. First, the instinct is pointing you toward solving a real problem in your own life. Something is bugging you. It keeps coming back. You think about it in the shower, during your commute, right before you fall asleep. That persistence matters because if it bugs you, it probably bugs millions of other people as well. Your instinct is telling you there is a problem here, and if you could solve it, there might be enough value that people will pay you for the solution.
The second variable is harder to spot but just as important. Your instinct sends you in the opposite direction of the mainstream opinion on where everything is going. Everyone else is zigging, and you feel a pull to zag. The crowd is moving one way with confidence, and you’re standing there thinking the answer might be somewhere else entirely.
What I have discovered is these two ingredients combined together create something powerful. Your instinct is telling you that your idea will solve a problem you actually have, and also that no one else is headed in this direction. That combination is rare. When both show up at once, pay attention.
Having said that, be wise. You will not be the only one that conceives of this. As soon as you articulate the idea out loud, as soon as you start talking about it or building it, suddenly people will let you know about ten or fifteen other people or companies doing something similar. I have seen this happen every single time. You think you’re alone in the wilderness, and then someone sends you a link to three startups, two blog posts, and a podcast episode all circling the same territory.
Do not take that as a caution sign. Do not let it stop you. Take that as a lead indicator that you are on the right path. If others are starting to move in that direction too, it means the problem is real and the timing might be right. It does not mean you’re late. It means you saw something true.
The mistake is thinking you need a completely original idea that no one has ever thought of before. You don’t. You need a real problem that you understand deeply because you live with it, and you need the courage to move toward a solution even when the mainstream is looking elsewhere.
“Your instinct is telling you that your idea will solve a problem you actually have, and also that no one else is headed in this direction.”
I went back to that idea on Tuesday. I stopped dismissing it. I wrote it down and started sketching out what a solution might look like. I’m not worried anymore about whether someone else is working on something similar. I’m focused on the problem I know is real because I feel it, and I’m walking in the direction my instinct keeps pointing even though it’s not where everyone else is going.
Trust that pull. Write down the problem. Take one step toward solving it.
