If it doesn’t do exactly what you want, go design one

When your job is being creative for other people, it’s easy to stop asking the question, but what about me?

That’s often where innovation comes from. Somebody who scratches their own itch. They administer a healthy dose of productive selfishness, and by saving some creativity for themselves, they optimize the very process for which they are renowned.

And in many instances, they also build new things that accelerate and scale their impact to the next level.

Software engineers and startup founders are famous for their itch scratching abilities. These nerds build things to solve their own problems. Plus, since they’re the target user, they already know what’s important and what’s not. This insider knowledge gives them a massive head start on delivering a breakout product.

Because when you solve your own problem, you create a thing that you’re passionate about and excited to use yourself.

One helpful starting point for this innovative process is from your sense of incompleteness. Moments when you’re using something that doesn’t do exactly what you want it to do, and you’re left with feelings of frustration and unfulfillment.

Prolific came to the market in that very way. As a writer, I found most of the brainstorming games, social media, virtual flash cards, bookmarking programs and project management software to be bloated and annoying.

They all consumed more time than they saved and didn’t create enough value for me to outweigh their monthly fee. My process didn’t need more inspiration, but more personalization. A one stop shop to help me troubleshoot my own creative problems.

I didn’t need another website where I pretended to do my work, I needed a place to come for answers about why I couldn’t do my work.

Boom. Done. That’s exactly how we designed the thing.

In fact, before we went live, I was already using my new personal creativity management system on a daily basis.

Proving to me that at least one user loved it. And where there’s one, there’s a ton.

Back to our leverage question:

If it doesn’t do exactly what you want it to do, why don’t you design one?

Go scratch your own itch. Find something that’s missing in your life and see if you can supply that need.

Think about what people just like you need, but don’t have, and go build their dream solution.

What intolerable itch is it finally time to scratch?