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5 Comments

Your input defines your output

Many of us design our products by looking at what our competitors do. For example, you want to design a new to-do app and you start by checking how all the existing to-do apps work.

If you are one of them be aware that you are hurting your creativity.

What you consume defines what you produce. If you consume, for example, high-quality content, you’ll generate high-quality ideas. If you hang out with successful people, you’ll probably become successful as well. The same goes in this case. If you constantly consume what your competitors do, you’ll end up creating a product that is similar to theirs.

Don’t take me wrong. Spending time to understand your competition is not bad. Spending too much time is when problems arise. Focusing too much on them will make you struggle with generating original ideas and with truly understanding your users. Your guideline on taking decisions will always be “what others do” and “how it compares to them”.

What you can do instead is to try to focus more on your users and your vision. Spend time talking to them, testing your designs with them and listening to what they think.

Stop thinking about your competition all the time, and try to act as if they are not there. There is no point in caring that much about differentiating yourself.

Remember that your mission is to create something valuable for your users, not something different from your competitors.


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  1. 1

    Garbage in, garbage out!

  2. 1

    If you constantly consume what your competitors do,

    … you'll also spend too much time worrying. :)

    1. 2

      That's also very true!

  3. 1

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

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