Life is a Delicate Balance Between “Ready, Aim, Fire” and “Ready, Fire, Aim”
Some people are naturally more cautious than others. I’ve always thought of myself as one of the cautious ones.
In a lot of areas, this has served me well.
I don’t have a lot of stories of times where I made a hasty decision and there were disastrous consequences.
But can I let you in on a secret? There are times when I’ve almost wished that I had some of those stories to share.
Why?
Because the fact that I don’t have any probably means something very important about me: I’ve been way too timid in my life.
In life, there are times when it is better to be the person of caution and times when it is better to be a person of action.
You’ll have a lot more success in life if you get better at realizing which approach is better for the situation you are in.
Ready, Aim, Fire
When the consequences are potentially huge and binding, it’s best to proceed with caution.
Buying a house a house is a good example here. If you want to just go out and buy a house you can do that. It’s pretty easy to find someone willing to lend you a completely outrageous sum to buy a house that by any logical evaluation should be considered way out of your price range.
Don’t do that.
Don’t sign a mortgage that you don’t fully understand. Don’t believe what a realtor tells you that you can afford.
With something like a house, you should do your homework, have your ducks in a row.
You should have a plan for making a reasonable down payment (I like at least 20%), know what kind of a mortgage you are looking for (15 and 30-year fixed are solid options), and you should have some idea of what you can pay per month.
When my wife and I bought our house, we spent nearly a year making sure we got a house that we would be happy with that wouldn’t break the bank.
A Note About College
Really, any time you are taking out a huge loan it’s probably a “ready, aim fire” situation. The biggest loan most people will take out is a mortgage, but there’s another one that I want to address: college
If this series were about life lessons you should learn before turning 20, I would have led with this one.
The default logic for decades has been that going to college is absolutely essential and that taking out loans to fund your education is almost a no-brainer.
If you do your best to keep what you borrow to a minimum, graduate on time, and get a solid degree that sets you up for a career in a lucrative field like health care or technology, the default logic is still undoubtedly true.
Outside of that, college isn’t nearly as much of a no-brainer as people assume.
The costs of a college degree have skyrocketed at an alarming pace and the value of a college degree has greatly diminished over time. It still can be a good deal, but it’s worth thinking over how to do it well.
Coming out of school tens of thousands of dollars in the hole and struggling to find work having already lost four years of experience isn’t a great spot to find yourself.
Ready, Fire, Aim
While sometimes it’s good to be cautious, in many instances life rewards those who just jump right in.
When the consequences are low, cautious people like me still let our fear of failure hold us back.
Those who are more bold jump right in, fail, learn from their mistakes, and make progress. In situations where failure is not fatal, it’s often the fastest way forward.
Let’s take the example of starting a YouTube Channel (or IGTV show, or blog, or whatever).
The best bet here is to just upload a video on YouTube. It doesn’t need great production value. You don’t need to figure out how to create the perfect thumbnail, you just need a video that people can watch.
You’ll figure things out as you go along. You’ll have a lot of “I wish I knew this before I got started” moments, but you’ll go further, faster than the people timidly sitting on the sidelines wanting to avoid any mistakes.
Make the leap before someone talks you down
The biggest thing you have to watch out for if you are cautious is the fact that if you are looking for a reason not to do something, you WILL find it.
There are plenty of people out there who would be happy to tell you that your dreams are rubbish and aren’t worth pursuing, that your plans are silly and naive and won’t pan out.
If your naturally cautious, it might be better to just start your project before you tell anyone.
As Tim Ferriss says in his classic The 4-Hour Workweek:
Most people are fast to stop you before you get started, but hesitant to get in the way if you’re moving.
Ready, Aim, Fire + Ready, Fire, Aim
Surprisingly, these two approaches aren’t mutually exclusive and often need to be combined.
Consider the idea of having a baby, is this a “ready, aim, fire,” or a “ready, fire aim” decision?
I would argue it’s a little of both.
Obviously there’s a level of preparedness that’s necessary. I wouldn’t recommend having a baby as a teenager. Or if you’re not married. Or if you’re unemployed. Or if you live in your parent’s basement.
But once it has been demonstrated that you are a reasonably responsible adult, you are ready, even though you won’t feel ready.
The truth is, you’ll never feel ready to have a baby. There’s no way to even fully plan or anticipate what life will be like. At some point, you’re just going to have to make the leap. Ready, fire, aim.
Deciding to marry someone is similar. You can’t just pick someone at random, but once it has become clear that you are compatible and love each other, there’s not that much more to deliberate over. Take the leap.
Conclusion
You’ll never strike the exact right balance. Sometimes you’ll rush in when you should have held back and sometimes you’ll miss opportunities that you should have jumped on.
But you can get better.
Pay attention to the opportunities in your life and decide which ones warrant caution and which ones warrant a more bold approach
This is the first in a series based on my article 30 Lessons About Life You Should Learn Before Turning 30. Shoutout to Dr. Christine Bradstreet 🌴 for the idea to turn the post into an in-depth series.