Stop Overthinking: The Hats, Haircuts, and Tattoos Rule

All decisions are either hats, haircuts, or tattoos.

All decisions are either hats, haircuts, or tattoos. Now, I heard this from James Clear, but just think about that for a second. A hat is something that you can put on and take off if you don't like it. These are decisions that can be made extremely quickly. We don't really need to think about them at all. Now, a haircut is something you might have to live with for a little bit. Yes, a bad haircut can be pretty embarrassing, but realistically, you will bounce back within about a month. It's definitely something you need to think about, but it's not going to ruin your life if you get it wrong. Now, tattoos, of course, are pretty permanent. You need to think that over fully and be ready to live with whatever decision you're making, because it's staying. Now, here's the thing. I think most overthinkers confuse hats for haircuts and haircuts for tattoos. We think for hours about posting a new piece of content or talking to someone at a coffee shop, and those are just hats. Just do it. Because if it goes wrong, you can always take it off and there's really no risk at all. And then things like launching a new product or taking a new job are haircut decisions, but we make them feel like they're tattoos. I say all of this to say, start taking fast action. You can try over 100 hats and have half a dozen bad haircuts because you really only only need one of them to go right. Tattoos are very rare decisions. We're talking marriage, having kids, committing a crime that puts you in prison. But if we're talking about social media, there are very few decisions that you're going to make that are going to last as long as a tattoo. Just don't commit a crime and don't ruin your life and you'll be fine.