Ready, Fire, Aim

Don’t let perfect get in the way of good enough.

We’ve all heard that saying in some form. It’s been popularized by some pretty heavy hitters over the years: Voltaire, Shakespeare, and even Confucius.

Nowadays, I meet plenty of business owners who forget this sage advice way too often and say things like:

• “I can’t do that until I have some time to think about it some more.”

• “Not yet, everything is too chaotic right now, maybe when things calm down.”

• “I’ll make that move when the plan feels a little clearer.”

Well, the problem is that things generally won’t change unless you actually take action to change them. And when it comes to taking action in your business, I always talk about how important it is to have clarity in what you’re doing.

But now we’re in a catch 22, right? Wrong.

Clarity Comes After Action

The only way to break the loop is to just take action. Clarity doesn’t show up by preparing to act, it shows up because you act. That plan will never feel perfect, the timing is always gonna feel a little off, and there will always be some uncertainty. Waiting for all this to resolve is what keeps you from gaining that clarity.

Waiting feels safe, it gives you the illusion of control. You convince yourself that it’s a strategy - you’ll launch when the messaging is tighter, you’ll hire when things feel more stable, you’ll invest in growth when you’re more confident about the outlook. While these feel like thoughtful business decisions, they’re not. It isn’t strategy - it’s just fear. When was the last time things felt perfect enough for you to act without any uncertainty or hesitation? Probably never.

And while you’re waiting, your competitors are moving. Testing. Iterating. Learning. Adjusting. Gaining clarity. They’re building momentum while you’re still at the drawing board trying to get things just right before you start.

So get moving. The forest won’t come into focus until you start walking through the trees.

The Cost of Waiting vs. The Power of Moving

I’m definitely not telling you to act recklessly or jump in completely without a plan. But perfect timing? That doesn’t exist. The things you’re waiting for might never happen. And the longer you wait? The more it’s gonna cost you in the long run. Not just in lost revenue, but in the trust, energy, and morale of your team. When leadership stalls, the whole team stalls.

Every delay chips away at the confidence of you and your team. Every “not yet” makes your team question your ability to make decisions, your ability to lead through the fog. That’s why you’re their leader, you’re supposed to be able to make decisions and provide guidance so they can act.

Clarity is critical, but so is motion. Stop waiting for clarity to come to you. Go out and find it. Start moving, testing, iterating, learning, adjusting. That’s how you can make things become more clear. So go test that offer, make the decision you’ve been waffling back and forth on, delegate that project. It probably won’t be perfect. But it’ll be good enough to get the ball rolling.

The winners aren’t the ones who wait for perfect timing. They’re the ones who move first, move fast, and adjust along the way: Ready, Fire, Aim.