Leap before you look

A poem from W.H. Auden on courage and commitment:

“The sense of danger must not disappear:
The way is certainly both short and steep,
However gradual it looks from here;
Look if you like, but you will have to leap.”
– Source: “Leap Before You Look” (December 1940), via James Clear

Sometimes, no matter how prepared you are, there comes a time where you simply have to leap before you look.

Because for truly uncharted paths, there’s no precedence, no trailblazers who went before you, zero friends who can truly understand what you’re about to try. Gather all the data you want beforehand, but at some point the data becomes grand theory. Problem is, planning makes things look gradual and certain, but it could very well be just theatre. Nothing beats data you get from real action, from boots on the ground.

That’s why the “sense of danger must not disappear.”
That’s why “look if you like, but you will have to leap”.

Nothing prepares you more than living it while preparing for it.

Leap before you look.