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Learn the rules while playing the game

I remember the first time I played soccer. It wasn’t in an organized league or at a playground. I was in daycare and we went on a field trip to an indoor arena to play. I enjoyed running around and kicking the ball. I didn’t bother with the the rules except for the basic one of don’t use your hands.

When playing a game you can do that all the time. Learn the basics and just dive right in without any worries. If only life was this simple. So often we wish to start down a path, but don’t do it because we waste so much time making sure we have all the “rules” down that we tend to forget that every journey begins with a step.

Sometimes you do need to plan, but other times you need to simply just make it happen and see where things take you. Risky? Only if you believe that moving forward is taking a risk.

Of the hundreds of projects that I have started and failed on in my lifetime there isn’t a single one that I can think of where I thought to myself “I wish I took the time to learn the rules more.” It just doesn’t happen. I might wish I put more effort into something or took the time to step back and go in a different direction, but I never regret taking that first step without doing months/years of research.

I could be completely wrong in all of this though. Maybe you need to learn all the rules before you can play the game and that is why I am not a millionaire. I tend to think that I have not found the right game as of yet to play. Learn the rules as you go along or learn them all at once. Either way you only really get to know them once you have done an action to make them appear.