Early Birds and Early Worms

“I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

We all know the adage “the early bird gets the worm.” It boils down to the idea that a person who does something immediately will get the reward. Now it sounds nice on paper, but it isn't always truthful. The world of birds and worms is the Wild West.

Who becomes the bird and who becomes the worm? That is the million-dollar question.

Anything worth doing has risks. Things could go wrong. We could miscalculate. We might make the wrong decision. The idea that acting fast will always get you “a worm” is incorrect. It may take 10, 20, or 30 tries to get a worm. Acting fast in certain situations could be a bad decision. What I am trying to get across is that rapid action is generally good advice, but it is not perfect.

Some days you are the bird, other days you are the worm. Our goal should not be to get a worm each time, but rather make decisions and take steps that limit the days where we are the worm.