Today I had a good conversation with a friend who’s an entrepreneur, and he said something that stuck with me. We were talking about his new venture, and I mentioned plans he could make for the future when his company is successful. He shared that he doesn’t want to think like that. He wants to stay hungry and consider only what he needs to do here and now. He believes that in the early stages, thinking too far ahead increases your chances of failure and demonstrates a lack of humility. Once he becomes successful, then he can expand his plans.

This is an interesting take, and after thinking about what he said, I agree. It’s what I did when I started my company. I was hungry and focused on surviving. All my energy went toward staying alive and moving the company forward. Only after I knew we wouldn’t die did I start thinking more about what decisions I should take to scale to company further.

My takeaway from my chat with my friend is that there’s a time and place to plan far into the future. And it’s not when the future is highly uncertain.