FBC – 223 – Contrary to what you think, this can cost you your dreams…

Contrary to what you think, this can cost you your dreams.

Today, for the last podcast of 2018 we are going to talk about one of the biggest dream killers of them all. The worst thing about it is that this one is silent. By silent I mean, most people wrongly assume that it is protecting their dreams while it's doing the opposite.

All the answers are in this episode
So today to close the year, I wanted to talk to you about stuff that we said yesterday about the difference between these rich people who make decisions quickly and change their mind very slowly and poor people say, quote unquote, poor, who will basically make decision slowly and change them very quickly. Right. So one other thing that you need to consider is this.

So in life, you need to have a balance in a lot of different things. Sometimes, being extreme works in your favour because you're polarizing. So sometimes, yeah, it's good to be extreme and stuff, but very often you need to find a balance.

You don't want to be completely crazy and stuff. And it's the same thing with risk. So risk management is a big topic. It's one of the reasons why people fail. The both extremes, people will fail for both.

People who are spontaneous will go in without assessing any risk. So they have absolutely zero caution. They invest all their money in something and then something bad happens. They go broke. So these are the stories that everybody knows. So going into a venture without doing your due diligence is well known.

And in most cases you can end up broke. You have to do a little bit of due diligence. You're investing your time. You're investing your money. You're investing your focus. And sometimes you're betting pretty much everything you have. So just because of that, you need to do some due diligence.

You need to have enough information to be able to go in. OK. And we discussed that yesterday. Yesterday I told you that. Well, as soon as you have, I guess, you know, like 60 percent of the information required to go in, then you should go. Then you can figure the rest out later. So it's well-documented that going without preparation is under cautious.

Contrary to what you think, this can cost you your dreams.

There are two extremes. And one thing people don't realize is that being overcautious is actually one of the other reasons why you're not going to reach your goals. If you're overcautious, what happens is you always need the more information and more validation and more tests.

And you need to talk to a bunch of people and then something else comes up. And then you have to research that. You know what? I don't know. It's dangerous. And then eventually you don't do anything. And this is costing you as well. It has a different cost than going in completely unprepared.

But at the end of the day, the ultimate goal for you is to achieve your dreams. So for you, in most cases, being overcautious is going to cost you your dreams too.

That lifestyle and that life that you want, you're not going to have it because you're being too cautious, man. No, let's not do this because this can happen. And I think we already talked about this. But good things can happen as well.

So why don't you say what if I succeed instead of saying what if I fail? If you want to stop being super overly cautious, just change your mind set and start asking yourself, dude, if I do this, what if it works?

So I'm not saying go and risk everything and stuff. No, no, no. I'm not saying this. I'm saying that you need to find a balance. And that balance, I'll say the balance is like 60 percent. You know, that's 60 percent where you know what?

I have enough information. I know the general idea and stuff. And the four, five big steps that I need to go in. Let me go. And then afterwards I'll figure out the rest. That's the optimum level of information and caution that you need to have before you go in.

Overcaution is not wisdom. It is fear wearing a responsible mask. The person who never takes a risk is not safe. They are simply failing slowly instead of failing fast enough to course-correct.

The entrepreneur who asks “what if it works?” instead of “what if it fails?” is not being naive. They are choosing the mental frame that actually leads to action. And action, not information, is what builds success.

The caution that cost me more than any risk ever did

You have been sold the idea that caution is free. It is not. The safe path has a price tag too, and it gets charged quietly, in the years you spend waiting for a certainty that never arrives. I know it because I paid it. Before I built four companies and started running them from Bali, I sat on ideas until someone braver shipped them first. Overcaution does not protect your dream, it starves it. On my Freedom by Choice podcast I walk through the exact moments I hesitated and what it actually cost me in money and momentum. The startup world has the same data. Stripe Atlas has written about how founders who wait for perfect conditions almost always lose to the ones who started rough and corrected in public. You do not need to be reckless. You need to be moving. I lay out on my story how the biggest jumps I made looked terrifying and turned out to be the safe choice in disguise. Harvard Business Review backs it: the cost of inaction compounds faster than most people ever calculate. Start before you feel ready, because ready is a feeling that shows up after you begin.

Frequently Asked Questions: How Overcaution Destroys Entrepreneurial Dreams

How does overcaution actually kill dreams if it is supposed to protect you? By ensuring you never commit to anything long enough for it to work. Overcautious entrepreneurs are perpetually researching, validating, and revising. They interpret every piece of negative information as a reason to wait longer. Eventually the market moves, the opportunity closes, or life circumstances change, and the dream quietly dies without anyone acknowledging what actually killed it. It was not the risks they took. It was all the ones they never did.

What is the right amount of caution before launching or investing? Enough to understand the fundamental mechanics, the primary risk factors, and the basic path to profitability or value. Martin puts that threshold at roughly 60 percent of the information you think you need. Beyond that point, you are collecting reassurance rather than intelligence. And reassurance-gathering is just another form of procrastination with a respectable name.

How do you break the habit of overcaution in practice? Change the question you ask yourself. Instead of “what could go wrong?”, ask “what does success look like if this works?” That shift does not make you reckless. It forces you to imagine the upside with equal energy as the downside, which is the only honest way to evaluate an opportunity. Then set a hard deadline. Commit to a decision by a specific date regardless of whether you feel ready. Readiness is a feeling, not a state. You rarely feel ready for the things that matter most.

About the Author

Martin Ebongue is the founder of martinebongue.com, an online business and lifestyle design blog focused on helping aspiring entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses. Since 2014, he has been creating and scaling online ventures across multiple niches, from digital products and affiliate marketing to SaaS and content platforms, while traveling the world. He shares the real-world strategies, tools, and systems that work, with a particular focus on AI-powered automation for solopreneurs. Follow him on YouTube, X (Twitter), and Instagram.

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