When tackling tough problems, there might be an impetus to start with the “low hanging fruit” or to go after the “quick wins.”
It might feel good and build confidence to accomplish the easy things first. It might look like you’re making progress, but looks can be deceiving.
If you don’t solve the hardest part of the problem, accomplishing the easy parts might not matter. Don’t squander all your resources on the easy stuff.
Do the hard part first. Then breeze through the easy bits.
As Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X, says, “monkey first.” If your project aims to have a monkey recite Shakespeare while perched atop a pedestal, it’s a mistake to build the pedestal first and leave until later the tough problem of training the monkey to speak.
Train the monkey first.
