<ul><li>Obsessing about the ultimate strategy or the ultimate diet or the ultimate golf club can be a clever way to prevent yourself from doing hard work.</li></ul>An imperfect start can always be improved, but obsessing over a perfect plan will never take you anywhere on its own.

Imperfect Is Perfect

Claiming that you need to “learn more” or “get all of your ducks in a row” <a href="https://jamesclear.com/taking-action">can often be a crutch </a>that prevents you from moving forward on the stuff that actually matters.<ul><li>You can complain that your golf game is suffering because you need new clubs, but the truth is you probably just need two years of practice.</li><li>You can argue that it’s hard to travel light without the right backpack, but the truth is you could make it work with what you have now.</li><li>You can point out how your business mentor is successful because they use XYZ software, but they probably got started without it.</li></ul>

Avoiding by Optimizing

If you set your bar at “amazing,” it’s awfully difficult to start.

<ul><li>Traveling the world. </li><li>Starting a business. </li><li>Eating healthy. </li></ul>

Examples

Learning from others is great and I do it all the time myself.But comparing your current situation to someone who is already successful can often make you feel like you lack the required resources to get started at all. If you look at their optimal setup, it can be really easy to convince yourself that you need to buy new things or learn new skills or meet new people before you can even take the first step toward your goals.And usually, that’s not true.

What is Optimal vs. What is Needed

When you have a goal it’s easy to look at someone who is already doing it and then try to reverse engineer their strategy.In some cases, this is really useful. Learning from the experiences of successful people is a great way to accelerate your own learning curve.But it’s equally important to remember that the systems, habits, and strategies that successful people are using today are probably not the same ones they were using when they began their journey.What is optimal for them right now isn’t necessarily needed for you to get started. There is a difference between the two.

Not All Work

The habits and strategies that successful people are using today are probably not the same ones they were using when they began their journey.

SETH GODIN

Similar ideas

SETH GODIN

Action

Building a writing habit