Midjourney

“Swimming with Sharks”

A very common problem when getting things done is the balance between planning and executing. One needs enough planning not to waste time, but planning doesn’t lead you closer to the goal.

Swimming with sharks

Imagine you fall off a boat close to an island and fear that there are sharks in the water. You have two swimming methods: crawling, which means you can’t see in which direction you are swimming, but you are faster, and breaststrokes when you can see but are slower.

The currents and waves pull you, so you can’t just leave the boat and crawl like crazy.

The best method is to do a couple of breaststrokes and direct yourself, then crawl for a couple of minutes with all power towards the island, pausing for a couple of breaststrokes and redirecting, and then going back to power-crawling (mindlessly.)

Working in the unknown

The same method works for when to build the first version of a product or any other project when you are navigating the unknown: start by planning/thinking for a day, work (without doubt) for two weeks, take a break, and summarize what you’ve learned and what to do the coming two weeks, and then go back to working without second-guessing yourself for two weeks, …

You need to set up goals intermittently, then “mindlessly execute” to pause and review. When you execute, don’t waste time doubting, but “set a timer” to ensure you don’t waste (too much) time in the wrong direction.