When in doubt, use brute force.

Done beats perfect every time

There's something liberating about this line from one of computing's pioneers—and something that applies way beyond code. It's permission to stop overthinking and just start. We often get paralyzed waiting for the perfect solution, the elegant approach, the clever shortcut. But sometimes the straightforward path works. Showing up to the gym even without a detailed training plan beats researching forever. Calling someone instead of crafting the perfect text message. Writing badly today instead of waiting to write well someday.

The trick is knowing when brute force actually makes sense. Thompson wasn't saying it's always best—he was saying it's better than paralysis. Efficiency matters, but so does momentum. A messy first attempt teaches you things you couldn't learn by planning. You discover what actually matters versus what you imagined would matter. The person who writes ten mediocre pages learns more than the person who writes zero perfect ones.

The non-obvious part: using brute force is sometimes the most sophisticated move. It's humble. It admits you don't have all the answers figured out yet. Real confidence isn't refusing to look clumsy—it's being willing to look clumsy in service of something that works.