We hear a lot in the world of entrepreneurship that you should “just act”; that we shouldn’t over-think things. But the problem is we treat acting decisively the same as acting quickly. The truth is they have nothing to do with one another.

The problem lies not only in misunderstanding the difference between acting decisively and acting quickly, it lies in the ongoing myth of intuition. There is a reason why so many great decisions are afterwards described as counter-intuitive. Two things make us believe we have great instincts: luck and the hindsight bias.

Sometimes we act on a hunch and we are lucky. We create a causal relationship that says “Because I acted on a hunch and the matter turned out well, matters turn out well because I act on a hunches.” Our hindsight bias causes us to rewrite history consistently in favour of seeing our own choices and even their outcomes in a favourable light, deserved or not. We lie to ourselves constantly. Especially if we are optimists, but that’s another story.

Start by differentiating thinking and acting. Act decisively, but after careful thought. Slow down. Take the time to understand the problem before you leap to a solution. Check your own perceptions and understanding by checking with others. We see what we want to see; often others don’t see what we see at all.

When you have gathered enough information, act. Don’t waffle, don’t second guess. You’ve thought this through, act.

Summing-up: “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” — Albert Enstein.