My personal notes for The Overton Window and How Creative Business Ideas Arise

The Overton Window is the range of ideas that the public will accept. It’s primarily used in politics and media.

As ideas gain support, they tend to move in this direction:

Unthinkable → Radical → Acceptable → Sensible → Popular → Policy

The Overton Window is everything past acceptable.

When it comes to your career, you want to try and live on the edge of the Overton Window, somewhere between radical and acceptable.

If you pursue ideas and opportunities which are popular and sensible today, you are on the path to being commoditized.

People err on both sides of this spectrum. Some don’t master the fundamentals first, they try to innovate without a full understanding of where the Overton Window even is. If you’ve never written a book, don’t try to reinvent the genre. Figure out the best practices and copy them. Others master the fundamental and then get stuck. They never dance to the edge. In our quest for certainty, we guarantee failure.

There is an ideal amount of innovation for commercial success. I think the ratio is about 90% copy, 10% radical.