In 2012 I read The Lean Startup and decided to quit my job and start a company. I had the playbook. Build small, test fast, follow the data. There was no way I could fail.

Well I failed.

Not because I ignored the book. Because I followed it. Every decision became "let's test it." Every instinct became suspect. My team couldn't commit to anything because the book told us commitment was the enemy. We threw half-baked ideas at the wall every day waiting for data to tell us what to do. The data usually said nothing. And when it did, it told us everything we tried was garbage.

The worst part? It leaked into my personal life. I became a hedging maniac. Couldn't commit to a restaurant, a vacation, a decision. I wanted to A/B test everything, including ways to wipe with toilet paper. It was an agonizing way to live, sometimes literally.

It wasn't until I committed to 100 Days of Rejection, doing one terrifying thing every day with no pivoting, no data, no quitting, that something broke loose. The commitment itself was the strategy. Not the testing.

Now I live by three words: Convictions with a Deadline. Think it through. Execute with everything you have. Move on when it's over.

This week I'm putting The Lean Startup against Lean In in March MINDness — a 64-book bracket tournament I'm running all month. After what that book put me through, this one is personal.