Better use medicines at the outset than at the last moment.

Small problems are cheap to treat and expensive to ignore. Almost everything that becomes serious gave some early sign, and the reason people wait is usually not ignorance but the hope that it will resolve itself while nothing has to be faced. The delay is what turns a small matter into a large one.

Think of the thing you have been meaning to deal with: the appointment, the conversation, the leak, the account. Do the first small step this week rather than the whole of it. Early action feels disproportionate at the time, which is exactly what makes it work.