I tend towards inaction, so I tend to regret inaction more than action—there’s often been situations where I think I probably could have made a difference if I’d just gotten involved. That said, actions occasionally explode in BIG ways and form very lasting, intense regrets. I seem to handle the latter MUCH better than the former, though, so I’d still rather push towards action over inaction.
But, ideally, I’d like to push for “action, with 5 minutes of sane contemplation beforehand”, because I almost never regret that—I often still have “learning experiences”, but it’s much easier to say to myself “Well, I did the best I could with the information I had at the time, and now I’ll have a better model in the future”.
I tend towards inaction, so I tend to regret inaction more than action—there’s often been situations where I think I probably could have made a difference if I’d just gotten involved. That said, actions occasionally explode in BIG ways and form very lasting, intense regrets. I seem to handle the latter MUCH better than the former, though, so I’d still rather push towards action over inaction.
But, ideally, I’d like to push for “action, with 5 minutes of sane contemplation beforehand”, because I almost never regret that—I often still have “learning experiences”, but it’s much easier to say to myself “Well, I did the best I could with the information I had at the time, and now I’ll have a better model in the future”.