The common wisdom is don’t miss the forest for the trees. When it comes to entrepreneurs though, they totally miss the trees searching for the size of the forrest. These days everyone is looking for an industry to disrupt. You’ve got to change the world or it won’t fly – or more importantly – it won’t attract a VC.
Not everyone has to invent the next “It’s Uber for ___”, or “It’s Twitter for ___”, it’s ok to shoot lower, it’s ok to stop and see the trees in the forest and see if you can help one.
My goal every day is not to change the world, it’s to help one developer. I don’t want to disrupt the programming forest, I want to find a different tree each day and see if I can make a difference in their life.
If you are racing against the clock for a new disruptive startup, stop. Take a day and just look around. Look at the people with whom you work. Is there something you can do, no matter how small, that will make a difference in one life? If so, do that. I guarantee you it will have a longer lasting impact than anything else you could do today.