“Be Prepared... or Just Get Going?”

When I was a kid, I took scouting pretty seriously.

Not just weekend-hikes-and-merit-badges serious. I made it all the way to Eagle Scout.

That meant years of tying knots, building shelters, navigating with a compass before GPS made us soft, and repeating one mantra until it was burned into my skull:

"Be Prepared."

It wasn’t a suggestion. It was a lifestyle.

I took that into everything—college, work, relationships. I double-checked the double-checks.

I wrote outlines before writing outlines.

My man-bag (lol) was always ready.

My project plan had project plans.

But here’s the punchline: somewhere along the way, all that preparation stopped being helpful.

It started becoming an excuse.

Fast forward a few decades—I’m retired now, spending time at cafés with people doing work that didn’t exist when I was a kid. One of those people is a coder, sharp and hungry, always building something.

One day I saw him hammering away on his laptop. Looked like progress. Looked like preparation. But when he got up to stretch, I tossed him a line:

“Getting it done?”

He didn’t miss a beat.

“It’s never done.”

I laughed, nodded. Shared a Brian Tracy quote I love: “Your inbox will never be empty.”

That’s when it hit me.

We’ve built a world where “Be Prepared” turned into “Be Paralyzed.”

The code’s never done. The inbox never clears. The timing is never perfect.

So what are you really waiting for?

Preparation Is a Virtue—Until It Becomes a Vice

Let’s get something straight—preparation is good.

It builds confidence.

It gives you a plan.

It’s better than going in blind.

But what nobody teaches you—especially not in school or scouting—is when to stop.

Over-preparing is just procrastination in disguise.

It feels like work. It smells like work.

But it’s just you avoiding risk.

You’re not scared of failure—you’re scared of starting.

The fear isn’t of doing it wrong.

It’s of not being perfect.

And that fear will keep you broke, alone, and stuck in a loop of what-ifs while someone else is out there taking swings.

Here’s a question to ask yourself:

Am I actually preparing, or just delaying because I’m scared to take the first step?

“Perfect” Is a Prison

Every man I’ve coached who’s stuck?

They’re stuck in this loop:

• “I just need to research a bit more.”
• “Let me finish this certification first.”
• “I’m almost ready.”

Sound familiar?

They think they’re sharpening the axe. What they’re really doing is hiding behind it.

Because let’s face it—no one’s coming to grade your test.

Life isn’t school. There’s no gold star for preparation.

There’s just the real world. And in the real world, done beats perfect every time.

Even the Pros Move Before They’re Ready

Let’s zoom out. Think of generals in war.

You think Eisenhower or Patton waited until they had all the answers?

Hell no.

They moved when they had enough.

In Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, there’s a concept called the Optimal Stopping Rule.

The idea?

If you want to find the best option—say, hiring the right person, choosing a partner, or picking a plan—you don’t need to look at all the options.

You only need to check out about 37% of them.

That means if you’re looking at 100 possible ideas, you don’t need to study all 100.

After reviewing 37, go with the next one that beats the best of the 37.

Done.

Mathematically, it gives you the best shot at success.

Think about that. 37%. Not 90. Not 100.

Why?

Because at some point, preparation has diminishing returns.

You learn more from doing than from thinking about doing.

Procrastination Feels Productive—That’s the Trap

Here’s why procrastination is so sneaky:

It tricks you into thinking you're working.

You’re watching another tutorial, reading another blog, tweaking your résumé for the 47th time.

But you haven’t hit “submit.” You haven’t walked into the room. You haven’t picked up the damn phone.

You’re not building. You’re buffering.

Wanna know the truth?

You can’t think your way to clarity. You move your way there.

Make the call. Write the post. Apply to the job. Launch the podcast. Ask her out. Take the roll.

You'll figure it out faster from the inside than the outside.

Start Ugly. Start Small. But Start.

The most powerful men I know—black belts, CEOs, builders—have one thing in common.

They don’t wait for permission.

They start.

Maybe it's messy. Maybe it's shaky. But they’re in motion.

And motion creates clarity.

Here’s what most young men don’t realize:

You’ll never feel “ready.”​
You’ll never know “enough.”
There’s no medal for perfect preparation—only rewards for action.

You don’t need a 10-step plan. You need a first step.

Take it.

Putting It On the Mat

A few months back, I was watching a white belt at Meraki BJJ.

He was new. Nervous. You could see it in his stance.

He circled. He waited. He tried to remember all the drills. He was trying to be perfect.

But while he was overthinking, his partner—another white belt with less “prep” but more nerve—moved. Shot in. Took him down.

Game over.

After class, I pulled the first guy aside.

“Let me guess,” I said. “You were trying to remember everything, huh?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t want to mess up.”

“Buddy,” I said, “you don’t learn jiu-jitsu by thinking about jiu-jitsu. You learn by doing it.”

That landed. I could see it in his eyes.

We get this moment every day. Not just on the mat. But in life.

You’re waiting to be ready.

You want to have the perfect résumé before applying.
The perfect line before saying hello.
The perfect product before launching.
The perfect body before showing up at the gym.

But you’ll never be ready.

And that’s the point.

You become ready by doing.

The mat teaches you this. The first punch. The first roll. The first fall. That’s where you learn.

Not from notes. Not from prep. From getting in there and figuring it out.

It’s true in fighting. It’s true in business. It’s true in life.

And that’s your challenge this week:

Stop preparing. Start moving.

Pick one thing you’ve been overthinking.
Give yourself 24 hours.
Make the move.

Call the person. Post the video. Book the trip. Send the email. Walk in the door.

Let the world meet the you who does, not the one who waits.

Because the truth is, most people never fail.
​They just never start.

Be the one who does.

P.S. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity and for that to happen you need to have a handle on your time, because if you have no time, you can't prepare, you can't take advantage of opportunities and you can't succeed.

I've put everything I've learned over the last 40 years of being on the mat, on high-pressure construction jobs and being married into Control Your Time, Control Your Life.​

​Get it HERE.​