I’m playing a small part in an internal business planning exercise at the moment - and came across this perfect posting from Seth Godin - it is short, so I’ve reproduced it in full:
That moment
When you are sitting right on the edge of something daring and scary and creative and powerful and perhaps wonderful… and you blink and take a step back.
That’s the moment. The moment between you and remarkable. Most people blink. Most people get stuck.
All the hard work and preparation and daring and luck is nothing compared with the ability to not blink.
If I had to start each day with a prayer, it would be this: may we find the things that will make the biggest difference and that are the most doable, and then, may we not blink 
And, as we know, it’s sometimes the total closing of the eyes rather than just the blinking that begets projects that we know are doomed rather than even simply successful.
Hi Steve,
thank you for your comment. No-one would dispute that there are some projects that are ill-conceived - the question I ask myself is this: is it better to have ten failures and one success, or no failures and no successes?
Something to ponder
Cheers, Andrew
There is a lot to be said for “just do it” (no, I am not endorsing THAT shoe company dammit)
I spent a day with a client yesterday working through their “We want to be doing X but are stuck doing Y” problem. At the end of the day, the answer was clearly - just start doing it. Now. Today.
There is a danger in thinking too much about something, and not gut-feeling enough. The “failures” I have had have pretty much come from rationalising myself into a situation that felt wrong from the start! Not easy for me to learn this one as I have always thought rational, logical thought is the be-all and end-all of decision making.
Hi Zern,
thank you for your comment.
For me, not blinking is what comes after the decision - be it a split-second gut instinct call, or a long and drawn out process. It is a little bit Zen-after-the-fact - allow for the procrastination as part of the process then throw yourself into it 110% (more in Testing to Failure). Any procrastination may be bad - or it could be a good thing to put on Mr deBono’s different Thinking Hats and look at the issue from different angles. Everyone has always-on ideas factory, and I’ve learnt to listen to mine, sometimes to my detriment - I am often torn between completing one idea in the available time or pursuing the next big thing. This is one of the reasons that I loved the book that Lisa and yourself wrote - Cubicle Commando taught me that it is OK to have the big ideas and to follow them up within a corporate environment - and why I love working for SMS, because big ideas, well executed, are well accepted and rewarded.
There certainly is a danger in thinking too much - let us find the thing that will make the biggest difference, and then, please, may we not blink!
Best regards, Andrew