Preserve optionality even if it makes you look stupid in the short term
Summary
- Keeping options open, or running experiments on multiple options, and applying the ASAP principle vs ALAP principle - when to make decisions fast and when to make them slow may make us look stupid in the short term, but allows us to act at the right time.
Details
- Similar to shooting bullets and calibrating before shooting the big guns
References
Quotes
Performing small, low-risk experiments on multiple options—in other words, shooting bullets and calibrating—keeps your options open before you commit the bulk of your resources to shooting a cannonball.
While some people are quick to join the crowd, others prefer to be
correct. Preserving optionality can make you look stupid in the short term, which means that from time to time you’ll have to tolerate people treating you like you’re a fool. But if you look at the most successful people in the world, they’ve all looked short-term stupid on a number of occasions, when they were keeping their options open and waiting for the right time to act.