No army would charge into battle without understanding the battlefront. It would be mass suicide. Yet, many of us do this daily with our work.

Preparation is essential. It equips you with the knowledge and tools you need to begin any ambitious pursuit. But there’s a thin line between preparation and overpreparation. Whether you’re planning on writing a book, launching a product, or building an exercise routine, getting ready can become a distraction.

Being successful is not about your abil

Too often our efforts to manage risk create further risks. Whether in combat or in day-to-day life, we encounter situations that call for us to assume a reasonable amount of risk to achieve our goals, and if we try to make ourselves “bulletproof,” we may ultimately collapse under the weight of our gear.

Trying to prepare for every eventuality means that spies would never leave home, but they must somehow prepare for a good deal of the unexpected.

“Early in my career as a SEAL officer, there was a time when I felt that military mission planning was needless and burdensome,” I told them. “But I was wrong. Establishing an effective and repeatable planning process is critical to the success of any team.”