"It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions"
About this Quote
Fence-sitting is treated here not as prudence but as a quiet form of self-sabotage. Jim Rohn’s line lands because it attacks a very modern fantasy: that you can keep every option open, collect more information, and somehow still move forward. The “fence” is a useful image precisely because it’s uncomfortable and unproductive. You’re not in danger on either side; you’re stuck in the middle, expending energy just to avoid committing.
Rohn’s intent is motivational, but the subtext is sharper: indecision is a decision. By refusing to choose, you choose stagnation, and you pay for it in time, attention, and credibility. “It doesn’t matter which side...sometimes” is a strategic concession that makes the message more persuasive. He’s not saying choices are irrelevant; he’s saying that in many real-life business moments, the bigger risk isn’t picking the suboptimal path, it’s delaying until circumstances pick for you. Markets shift, competitors move, relationships cool, and your window closes while you’re still “considering.”
The repetition around “getting off” is deliberate, almost comic in its bluntness. It breaks the self-serious tone that often surrounds advice culture and turns action into something physical and immediate: stop perching, start moving.
Context matters: Rohn built a career in late-20th-century American self-improvement and sales culture, where momentum is currency and hesitation reads as weakness. The quote flatters agency while also demanding it, insisting that progress is less about perfect judgment than about the courage to commit and learn on the way down.
Rohn’s intent is motivational, but the subtext is sharper: indecision is a decision. By refusing to choose, you choose stagnation, and you pay for it in time, attention, and credibility. “It doesn’t matter which side...sometimes” is a strategic concession that makes the message more persuasive. He’s not saying choices are irrelevant; he’s saying that in many real-life business moments, the bigger risk isn’t picking the suboptimal path, it’s delaying until circumstances pick for you. Markets shift, competitors move, relationships cool, and your window closes while you’re still “considering.”
The repetition around “getting off” is deliberate, almost comic in its bluntness. It breaks the self-serious tone that often surrounds advice culture and turns action into something physical and immediate: stop perching, start moving.
Context matters: Rohn built a career in late-20th-century American self-improvement and sales culture, where momentum is currency and hesitation reads as weakness. The quote flatters agency while also demanding it, insisting that progress is less about perfect judgment than about the courage to commit and learn on the way down.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
|---|
More Quotes by Jim
Add to List
