The Planning Paradox
Most people have it completely backwards
They believe the path to success requires mapping every detail before taking a single step.
This approach doesn't just fail, it guarantees failure.
Every experienced entrepreneur knows this truth.
You cannot prepare for chaos. You can only learn to navigate it.
The real skill isn't planning, it's adaptability.
The ability to move forward, adjust, and respond is infinitely more valuable than any pre-fabricated strategy.
Mike Tyson captured this perfectly: "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face."
The fundamental problem with over-planning is incomplete information.
You're trying to chart a course through terrain you've never seen.
You'll meticulously design your route, take ten steps, and encounter your first deviation. Then what? You've built your entire strategy on assumptions that reality just invalidated.
Most people freeze at this moment because they trusted the plan more than they trusted themselves.
Your Compass, Not Your Checklist
The alternative is principle-based thinking.
Plans should function as a compass, not a checklist. A framework of principles that guides decisions rather than dictates actions.
This distinction matters more than most people realize.
My compass has three points: speed, iteration, and self-belief.
Speed means bias toward action over analysis. Most people spend weeks planning what could be tested in days.
They're optimizing for certainty when they should be optimizing for learning. Speed isn't recklessness, it's recognizing that real information only comes from real action.
You learn more from one week of execution than one month of planning.
Iteration means expecting to be wrong and building that into your process. Your first attempt won't be perfect. Neither will your fifth.
This doesn't mean failure, it's how progress actually works.
Each iteration reveals information you couldn't have known before.
The goal isn't to get it right once; it's to get better every time.
Self-belief means removing every obstacle between your decision and your action.
Most friction is self-created. You don't need more research, more validation, or more preparation. You need to trust that you can figure it out as you go.
Simplification is about cutting everything that doesn't directly move you forward, especially the mental barriers you've built to protect yourself from starting.
These principles work together.
Speed without iteration is just rushing toward failure.
Iteration without self-belief becomes endless tinkering.
Self-belief without speed is just daydreaming.
Together, they create forward momentum regardless of circumstances.
The Competition That Doesn't Exist
Here's what's fascinating: everyone makes plans. Everyone strategizes.
Everyone identifies the optimal approach. Almost no one executes.
This is why I never fear competition. I could hand you my exact playbook—every strategy, every tactic, every improvement opportunity—and 99% of people still wouldn't act on it.
Not because the information isn't valuable, but because they lack the conviction to begin without certainty. They'll wait for the perfect moment, the perfect plan, the perfect conditions.
Meanwhile, I'm on my twentieth iteration, learning what actually works.
The competition you imagine is largely fiction. Your real opponent is the voice in your head that demands guarantees before you start.
When you can silence that voice and overcome the obstacles you create for yourself, success becomes probable rather than possible.
Competition actually signals opportunity. If others are succeeding in a space, money is flowing there.
This means the market exists and customers are buying. You don't need to be revolutionary, you just need to be good enough to capture some of that flow.
Become great through rapid iteration, and you'll capture most of it.
Uncertainty Is the Point
The uncertainty that terrifies most people is precisely what makes the journey worth taking.
Consider every story that's ever captivated you, every film, every hero's journey, every narrative that kept you engaged.
The pattern is universal: someone decides to pursue something significant without knowing how to achieve it, armed only with belief in themselves.
This is what creates compelling stories: courage in the face of the unknown.
Uncertainty validates your journey. It creates the open loop of curiosity that makes people pay attention.
They watch because they genuinely don't know if you'll succeed. Neither do you. That tension, that gap between where you are and where you're going without a guaranteed path between them, is what transforms your business into something more than a transaction.
It becomes a story worth following. And the only way to write that story is to start—imperfectly, immediately, and with absolute conviction that you'll figure out the rest as you go.
-Anthony
P.S. If this resonated, hit reply. I read every response and genuinely appreciate hearing how these principles land with you.
