A woodsman was once asked, “What would you do if you had just five minutes to chop down a tree?”
“I would spend the first two and a half minutes sharpening my axe,” he answered.
Many mistakes stem from jumping hastily into solution mode without investing time to deeply understand the problem.
It’s hard to pause, map out the symptoms, understand its root cause, identify potential solutions, and then prioritise those solutions based on cost, speed, and quality.
It’s hard because the above takes time, and it often feels easier to just jump into building the solution.
This is one of the “take the stairs, and eat more veggies” insights—straightforward strategies for success that are often disregarded as being too simple and boring. But investing into these habits pay compounding dividends in the long run.