When you are under pressure, mistakes happen.
Luckily, not all mistakes will cost you $100 billion. And most importantly, you are the one deciding what pressure to bow to. Not everything is worth pursuing, not all chances are worth taking, not all competitors are worth following.
Sometimes the wise response is to slow down and let go. It’s always a viable option.
A little data is always better than no data. Because no data is the realm of opinions, hearsay, gossips, and past experiences.
A lot of data is sometimes better than a little data. Because a lot of data can be confusing, irrelevant, misleading.
A good amount of data is difficult to strike. Because when you start getting data, you want more, and that’s when you end up with a lot of data and the problems from the paragraph above.
The point is that data is useful and should be used, as long as, at some point, you can say “enough!”.
When we are kids, we think everybody is interested in our opinion, in what we think, even when we know absolutely nothing about the topic. It might be because our parents have taught us that we matter, that we are the centre of the world. And so of course what we have to say is relevant to the situation. No matter what situation.
Then, we grow up, and somehow we develop some kind of filters. Some do, at least. We start getting feedback that what we say is not really useful, we notice others putting themselves into awkward situations we want to avoid, we are reminded of our limits, and we realise that not everything we have in our head is worth sharing.
Unfortunately, that seems to stop in a couple of instances, at least.
The second case is incredibly similar to what happens to kids. We are surrounded by people who mainly confirm that we are important, that we matter, that we know, that we are better. And we lose the ability to distance our thoughts from what is needed, appropriate, relevant.
That’s a risk that’s worth keeping in mind. Unless we want to come full circle and be just like kids once again.
Winning and (not) losing is the focus for many.
But that doesn’t matter.
What truly matters is:
Wins and losses are outcomes, you can’t control those.
Focus on the input instead.
No surprises there.
One of the things people misunderstand about average is that it is not necessarily stable over time.
Average can scale, it can get things done, it can make a difference in the long term.
It’s just a matter of consistency and perspective.
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