notes-life-hesitateToAct

often, actions taken to further some goal accidentally do the opposite. Why is this? Two guesses: (1) before your action, the rest of the world was probably in some state of equilibrium with respect to the domain that you are trying to affect. Your action takes it out of equilibrium, making it likely that it will either get better or worse. Of course, you think it will make it better, but humans aren't as smart as we think. (2) the types of actions you take will tend to relate to the domain of the thing that you are trying to change, so if they have unintentional negative side effects, those effects will also often be in that domain.

So, if you don't care enough or don't have the time or resources to deal with the potential consequences of negative progress, then don't act at all.

See also [Self-advice-dontPanic].