“The pain of regret lasts forever. The pain of action fades quickly.”
Shane Parrish
Recently, I listened to an episode of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck podcast where Mark Manson talked about certain things in life being asymmetric. The idea is that the downsides of certain things are minuscule compared to the potential rewards. His example was that if you’re single and want to start a relationship, always go to parties and talk to the stranger you find attractive. Best case scenario: you have an amazing relationship that lasts a long time and your life changes dramatically. Worst case scenario: you embarrass yourself for five minutes.
There are numerous examples of asymmetries in life, such as writing a book, starting your own business, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, or simplifying your life. The earlier you start, the better. Nevertheless, we allow five minutes of discomfort to prevent us from achieving amazing things that can last a lifetime. Entrepreneur Alex Hormozi put it this way: “Ask the girl. Shoot the shot. Launch the business. Run the ad. Quit the job. Take the risk. When you’re 85 years old and on your deathbed, you’re not gonna wish you had fewer crazy stories.”
Some things in life you can unsee once you see them. For the longest time, I wanted a shortcut that helped me make better decisions. If such a thing exists it’s this: identify asymmetries in life and when you have everything to win and nothing to lose, just go ahead and do it. When you do something and fail, at least you learn a valuable lesson. When you do nothing, you get the pain of regret, and, like Shane Parrish says so eloquently, it doesn’t wash away so easily.
“Don’t be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams”, writer Derek Sivers once said. Most big dreams start with small steps. Before exercising, you put on your gym clothes. Before writing a masterpiece, you work on short blog posts. You need to take small steps before taking big leaps.