Over-preparation may be killing you

On why we don't take action

"By far the dominant reason for not releasing sooner was a reluctance to trade the dream of success for the reality of feedback."

Approaching a Minimum Viable Product - Kent Beck

In my last post, I encouraged you to dream big and to fight for them. Now we need to bring those dreams and projects to life. One thing I learned in my past endeavor is to dream big but act small. By act small, I mean break your dream down into simple actions. Think of what is the first brick that you need to lay down.

I find that it can be tricky to focus on what truly moves the needle. One reason is over-preparation.

Sometimes we get stuck in the cycle of preparation. We need to study more, add more, fix and tweak little things, and it ends up being endless. And while it is important to be prepared, we need to know when we really need to add more and when it is just cold feet. Most of the time it is just fear. Fear that turns into excuses. Not everything is going to be perfect and not all the conditions are going to be met. You have to come to terms with that.

I went through this with our last business. The first year we were slow and took our time launching with the excuse that we were not ready; we still needed to do X, Y and Z. Trying to “fix” and tweak things that in hindsight were completely irrelevant. Occasionally, we hold back and focus so much on unimportant details that our project stalls. At the end of the day, it is just a bunch of “justifications” we tell ourselves for not seeing and accepting the truth: you are afraid, dealing with real life is daunting. I know for us, facing the reality of releasing our product, going to market, and getting feedback from our customers or potential customers was paralyzing.

But hey, we have no choice; we have to face reality and put ourselves out there. You need real-life feedback to improve and better direct your project. I think this goes beyond launching a product. Whatever project you have in your life, you have to test it in the real world. Sometimes we don't know where we are going or if the direction we are setting is the right one. Now, I am certain that it is by doing things and getting the feedback and data that you start redefining and knowing your destination.

Fear will always be there. It is impossible to wish not to be afraid of things, it is normal to have it. I dare say it is good to have it, it means you are being bold or pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. So take it as a good sign and do not let it stop you.

“For the hero, fear is a challenge and a task, because only boldness can deliver from fear.“

Carl Gustav Jung