The survival approach: Choose the best option available, while you’re looking for your ideal option. Do whatever it takes to survive. There’s a Chinese saying, 騎牛搵馬, which translates to, “Ride a cow until you find a horse.” Seth Godin writes the second rule in The Bootstrapper Bible, “Things get better. But first, youʼve got to survive.” Balance opportunity with strategy.

The willful approach: Simplify and focus on the ideal option, or a path that takes you there. Shane Parrish writes, “All of the energy that goes toward anything that is not the most important thing comes at the expense of the most important thing.” Be decisive.

Your best option is probably somewhere in the middle. Making these decisions is an art: what you say no to, when, and how.