If nature abhors a vacuum, startup people abhor mistakes. Most of us got to where we are via a long chain of good grades and aggressive action, which means our instinctive reaction is to attack mistakes like a hungry piranha.

And that itself is a mistake.

It feels good to jump into action, to examine the options, to make a decision, and to execute.  But that doesn’t make it effective.

Stephen Covey warned against our innate tendency to focus on the urgent, to the potential detriment of what’s important.  He wrote about the neglect of Quadrant 2 activities (important, but not urgent).

Every startup is rife with mistakes; your team could spend all its time fixing them without actually getting anything important accomplished.

As the entrepreneur and leader, you need to resist your own instincts and avoid giving in to the natural and comfortable urge to jump into problem solving.  It might feel uncomfortable, but it will also help you succeed.