THE 60-SECOND RULE: Stop researching. Start deciding.

1:52 AM.

Sitting in the Aeron facing east.

Aj left about thirty minutes ago. Gallery Dept jeans, Moncler puffer, probably heading to some bar in Shoreditch. Told me he'd be back around 4. I nodded.

Now it's just me and the city.

Windows cracked open. February breeze coming through, cold enough to keep me sharp. Dreams by courten plays low in the background. Not loud. Just enough.

Black MacBook screen. Black notebook beside it. One pen.

This is when I do my best work. When the apartment's empty and the city's still moving below.

Because here's what I've been thinking about tonight:

Most people don't have an information problem. They have a decision problem.

THE OBSERVATION:

Last week, someone DM'd me asking about which platform to start with for faceless content.

Instagram or TikTok? Reels or YouTube Shorts? Should they wait for the new algorithm update? What about posting times? Should they research competitor strategies first?

I gave them the same answer I give everyone stuck in this loop:

"Pick one. You have 60 seconds. Go."

They didn't like that. Said they needed more time to think. More research. More data.

That was seven days ago. They still haven't posted anything.

Meanwhile, someone else asked me the same question two days ago. I gave them the same answer.

They picked Instagram. Posted their first reel four hours later. It got 1,200 views. Not viral. Not life-changing. But real data from a real post.

Same question. Different responses. Completely different outcomes.

Here's what I've noticed: Smart people use research as a socially acceptable form of procrastination.

They're not lazy. They're not scared. Well, they are scared, but they've disguised it as diligence.

"I'm just being thorough."

"I want to make sure I understand the landscape first."

"I'm waiting until I have all the information."

Bullshit.

You're waiting until the decision feels safe. And it never will.

THE PATTERN:

I used to do this constantly.

Spend three days researching the "best" way to do something. Read seven articles. Watch twelve YouTube videos. Ask opinions in four different Discord servers.

Then make the decision I was going to make on day one anyway.

All that research didn't change the outcome. It just delayed it.

Because here's the uncomfortable truth: Most decisions don't require more information. They require commitment.

You already know enough. You're just afraid of being wrong.

So you research more. Hoping that somewhere in the next article or the next video or the next expert opinion, you'll find the piece of information that makes the decision feel certain.

But that information doesn't exist.

Every choice has trade-offs. Every path has risks. No amount of research eliminates that.

The only thing research does at a certain point is give you more sophisticated reasons to stay paralyzed.

THE MECHANISM:

Here's what actually happens when you over-research:

You create decision fatigue. More information means more variables to consider. More variables means harder to choose.

You mistake analysis for progress. Feels productive. Isn't. You're not building. You're just thinking about building.

You give yourself permission to delay. "I'm still researching" sounds better than "I'm scared to start."

Three months ago, I needed to decide whether to add another revenue stream to my faceless pages.

Digital products or consulting or something else entirely.

I could've spent weeks researching. Looking at what others were doing. Building financial projections. Testing different markets.

Instead, I gave myself 60 seconds.

Looked at what energized me (creating frameworks, not one-on-one calls). Looked at what my audience was already asking for (guides, systems, methods). Made the decision.

Digital products. Specifically, guides.

Decided in under a minute. Built The Paper Guide over the next two weeks. Launched it. People downloaded it. Revenue increased.

Was it the perfect decision? Don't know. Don't care.

It was a decision. And I executed it fast enough that I could course-correct if needed.

That's the difference. Speed creates feedback. Research creates hypotheses.

THE EXAMPLE:

Let me show you exactly what this looks like in practice.

I know someone—runs a small newsletter, about 800 subscribers. Wants to monetize but kept going back and forth on how.

Sponsorships? Paid subscriptions? Digital products? Affiliate links?

Spent six weeks researching each option. Read case studies. Analyzed other newsletters. Built comparison spreadsheets.

Finally, I asked him: "If you had to pick one right now, which would it be?"

He said: "Probably paid subscriptions. Seems most straightforward."

"Why haven't you done it then?"

"I'm still researching the best pricing model. Monthly vs annual. Whether to do tiers. What features to gate."

I told him he had 60 seconds to decide. Literally set a timer.

He panicked for the first 30 seconds. Then just said: "Fuck it. £5 monthly. One tier. Exclusive posts on Saturdays."

Not perfect. Not optimized. But decided.

He implemented it that week. Got 23 paid subscribers in the first month. £115 monthly recurring revenue.

Small numbers. But real money from a real decision executed quickly.

Now he has data. He knows what people actually pay for. He can adjust pricing, add tiers, test annual options.

But none of that would exist if he was still researching the "optimal" model.

The 60-second decision created the outcome. The six weeks of research just created anxiety.

THE SHIFT:

Four weeks ago, I made a rule: No decision takes longer than 60 seconds unless it's truly irreversible.

And almost nothing is truly irreversible.

Choosing a platform? Reversible. You can switch.

Pricing a product? Reversible. You can adjust.

Picking a niche? Reversible. You can pivot.

Hiring someone? Mostly reversible. You can part ways.

The only things that actually require extensive research are decisions you can't undo. And there are fewer of those than you think.

Everything else? 60 seconds.

Here's how it works:

Step 1: Set a timer. Literally. 60 seconds.

Step 2: Write down the options. Maximum three.

Step 3: Ask one question to yourself out loud: "Which option moves me forward fastest?"

Not which is safest. Not which is most optimal. Which creates momentum.

Step 4: When the timer hits zero, you've decided.

No extensions. No "just a bit more time." The timer is the commitment device.

Step 5: Execute immediately.

Don't revisit the decision. Don't second-guess. Just build based on what you chose.

This isn't reckless. It's operational.

You're not ignoring information. You're just refusing to let information become an excuse for inaction.

THE APPLICATION:

This week, find one decision you've been "researching."

The thing you've been thinking about for days or weeks. The choice you keep putting off because you don't have enough information yet.

Set a 60-second timer. Make the decision. Execute it within 24 hours.

Not perfectly. Not optimally. Just done.

Because here's what you'll discover: most decisions don't determine success or failure.

Execution speed does.

The person who makes a decent decision today and executes it beats the person who makes the perfect decision next month.

Every time.

The upper echelon doesn't wait for perfect information. They move with good-enough information and adjust in real-time.

They understand that speed is a competitive advantage when everyone else is stuck researching.

You want to join them? Stop gathering information. Start making decisions.

But first, you need to know which decisions actually matter versus which ones are just disguised procrastination. What drains your energy versus what drives momentum. Where your wiring creates speed versus where it creates hesitation.

The Paper Guide breaks this down in 60 minutes. The exact framework for identifying high-impact decisions versus low-impact noise. Stop researching how to start. Just start. Download it here:

Excuses don't build empires.

Decisions do.

—Tai

P.S.

It's 3:18 AM now.

Cold by courten playing in the background. City's quieter but still awake.

Aj texted me twenty minutes ago. "Yo, be back soon." Probably means another hour at least for him.

I'm still at the desk. Built the entire structure for a new product tonight. I didn't research competitors. Didn't analyze the market for weeks.

Just decided it was worth building and started building it.

Will it work? Don't know yet.

But I'll know a lot sooner than if I spent the next month researching whether it's a good idea.

That's the difference.

Speed creates data. Research creates delays.

Choose speed.