Entrepreneurship | 3 Min Read
#63 - Stop Fixing Problems That Aren't Problems!
Over the last week, it's been a bit of a journey. I started the week thinking Harken would be pretty much done...
Hey Friends 👋
Over the last week, it's been a bit of a journey. I started the week thinking Harken would be pretty much done and ready to launch by the end of it and then halfway through the week I thought I would be ripping out the entire DB and starting over. Turns out I didn't need to in the end but it did teach me a valuable lesson and this is that lesson.
During this week I worried about how I was storing the data in Harken and if it was as efficient and scalable as it could be. And, that was it, once the seed was planted, the worrying began and sure enough, before I knew it, I was planning a new DB solution and starting to implement it. But, all this started with a worry, a hunch, a thought of something that might be.
Interestingly, it wasn't until I started to investigate the new solution and start to implement it that I stopped and thought about what I was doing. I was taking something that hadn't been a problem, wasn't a problem, and might never be a problem and using it as cause to rip up my launch plan for Harken and push the release of the product back weeks. 😱
In short, I was derailing my plan and goal (launch in Q4 22) for Harken all because I got cold feet about something that might never actually be a concern. And, this experience is what taught me the lesson "Don't let something that isn't a problem and might never be a problem derail your goals, plans, and ambitions".
How I see it now is there are two paths forward when you get a worry like I had and they are.
- If the problem you've thought of is a legitimate big problem and you're confident that it'll cause legitimate big issues for your product or users in the future and the best time to fix is the current moment, then fix it.
- If the problem isn't a problem now and you also don't think it will be later on. Then, don't worry about it and press on with your plans. If it becomes an issue later on you can always fix it and come up with a solution then.
The only time you should pause your plans and focus on fixing the problem you've thought of is when it's either a problem right now or you're very confident it'll become a massive product-breaking size problem later on.
And, more often than not I've noticed these problems very rarely become the massive product-breaking ones we need to worry about. Instead, they're minor inconveniences that can be sorted on the fly.
So, instead of worrying about problems that may or may not be an issue in the future, focus on shipping your product and getting users on board to use it. Then you'll know 100% which issues need to be solved. 🚀
As always, thank you for reading and I hope you have a great week next week.
Coner x
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