Start from scratch

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Starting from scratch is often a bad idea. We often assume that revolutionary ideas and big changes require a blank slate. When business ventures fail, we say things like "Let's get back to the drawing board." When we think about the habits we want to change, we think, “I need to start over”.

However, creative progress is rarely the result of scrapping all previous ideas and innovations and completely redesigning the world. Take an example from nature: Some experts believe that bird feathers evolved from reptile scales. Thanks to the forces of evolution, the scales gradually turned into small fluff originally used for heating and insulation. Eventually those tiny feathers grew into larger feathers that could fly. There was no magical moment when the animal kingdom said, "Let's start from zero and create an animal that can fly." The development of flying birds was a process of iteration and expansion of ideas that were already working. The process of human theft has followed a similar path. We generally think of Orville and Wilbur Wright as the inventors of modern flight. However, we rarely mention the aviation pioneers who came before them, such as Otto Lilienthal, Samuel Langley, and Octave Chanute. The Wright brothers learned and used the work of these people to create the world's first flying machine.

The most creative innovations are often new combinations of old ideas. Once they create innovative thinkers, they make connections. Often the most effective way to progress is to improve your current execution by 1%, rather than breaking the whole system and starting over.