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.

Learning past theories and examples prevents you from reinventing the wheel or from making the same mistakes as others who came before you. But those past theories and examples can't tell you what action to take in any particular situation. The past theories and examples do not accompany you onto the battlefield. For von Clausewitz, only coup d'oei