Data may have reference value, but it is only that.

The vast majority of valuable insights can only be validated through practice.

Some people practice for a day, see no results, and give up. In reality, they don't realize that if they had persisted for just one week, they would have seen an effect. It's like digging a well: one shovel doesn't bring water, but ten might. Aside from you, no one knows how long it will take. Perhaps it takes only a moment; perhaps it takes a lifetime. You need to dig—dig to understand the terrain, to test the waters, and to roughly estimate, based on your first week of exploration, whether this project is a one-month effort, a one-year journey, or something that seems endless.

Remember, people are different. Some dig fast, some dig slow. Some have plenty of stored grain, others have little. After a week of digging, you might predict the project will take half a year, but if your reserves only last two months, you'll have to quit.

No one can know this in advance, because they aren't you. Many of us make the mistake of misreading time.