The Sooner-Is-Better Exit Algorithm
When a necessary leap will never feel ready, stop waiting and test it sooner
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 94%
The Sooner-Is-Better Exit Algorithm is a three-part decision rule for a leap that fear keeps postponing. First, ask whether reaching the end of life without ever testing the path would be an unacceptable regret; the requirement is to try, not to guarantee success. Second, inspect the conditions attached to feeling ready—more savings, contacts, material, or confidence—and determine whether perfectionism can keep moving that point indefinitely. Third, if there is no uniquely right future time, earlier action creates earlier evidence and leaves more time to adapt. Choose the earliest viable date, commit, and enter with a beginner's mind rather than a rigid forecast. This is a decision mechanism, not a claim that the leap will work financially.
Origin
After fear kept him at Accenture three years longer than intended, Simon used this logic to draft his resignation and attempt full-time magic.
Core principles
- 01Distinguish needing to try from needing to succeed
- 02Use future regret to test whether avoidance is acceptable
- 03Recognize perfectionism that makes readiness unreachable
- 04Prefer earlier learning when no perfect moment exists
- 05Enter with commitment while remaining open to evidence
How to run it
- 1
Run the regret test
Imagine never attempting the path and ask whether that uncertainty would remain a major end-of-life regret.
Pro tip Frame the question around learning what happens, not proving that you will win.
- 2
Audit readiness
Write down what you claim must be true before acting, such as savings, contacts, material, or confidence.
Watch out Do not hide an essential obligation inside the label of perfectionism.
- 3
Detect the moving target
Ask whether meeting today's conditions would genuinely trigger action or merely produce a new set of requirements.
Pro tip Look at how often the target has already moved.
- 4
Test for a right time
Determine whether a specific future event materially improves the decision or whether no uniquely correct moment exists.
Watch out A real vesting date, care duty, or runway threshold may be material rather than avoidant.
- 5
Choose the earlier viable move
If trying is necessary, readiness is unreachable, and no right time exists, select the earliest date that respects essential constraints.
Pro tip Convert the conclusion into a concrete action such as drafting the resignation letter.
- 6
Learn without fixed positions
Commit fully to the experiment while reevaluating as real evidence arrives rather than insisting on the original forecast.
Watch out Trying the path does not oblige you to continue after the evidence changes.
In the wild
Simon had intended to stay at Accenture for a couple of years but remained for five as fear and stability kept winning. He concluded that never trying would be a major regret, that perfectionism meant he would never feel ready, and that without a right time, sooner was better. He began drafting his resignation.
→ He tested full-time magic for a decade and learned that he loved the art but not its business model.
A designer with a basic runway keeps postponing an independent product until the portfolio is perfect. The regret test says the experiment matters, and each completed readiness condition has historically produced another. With no material event favoring next year, the designer sets an earlier viable launch date and treats the result as evidence.
→ The decision replaces indefinite preparation with a bounded real-world test.
Common mistakes
Treating the algorithm as a success promise
Simon explicitly describes the subsequent magic career as financially unsuccessful; the rule secures the attempt and the learning, not the outcome.
Calling every constraint fear
Essential runway, health, and family duties can make a later date genuinely more viable.
Refusing to reevaluate
Committing to the experiment should not become a fixed position that ignores later evidence.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for a person with a viable runway who believes they must test a path to avoid lifelong regret.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when leaving immediately would violate essential financial, health, or family obligations.
From the transcript
“the number one as is well documented is that they never tried the thing then try the thing always wanted never found out and I…”
“I'd been waiting until I felt ready enough savings and enough like career contacts enough good magic material or whatever and I realized I was…”
“if there's no right time then sooner is better than later and I've started drafting my resignation letter”
From the episode
#679: Simon Coronel, World Champion of Magic — Quitting the Day Job, The Delights of the Magic Castle, Finding Glitches in Reality, Learning How to Use Your Own Brain, and Worshiping at the Altar of Wonder
Simon Coronel