Let me start with a personal tale of woe.

At one time,I was closely involved in a very profitable venture. Unfortunately, it was shut down within two years of reaching its peak.

My sorrow was aggravated by the fact that I had predicted the long term negative effect of each decision that lead to the venture closing down.

How did I accurately predict the major negative effect of each of these decisions?

It was quite simple, and I’ll get to that in a minute.

First, let’s consider your idea. Sooner or later you’ll face a conflict between your idea and what life throws at you while implementing it.

What should you do? Should you compromise? How do you know when you should and for what reasons? 

It’s like building a bridge over a river. You can compromise on where to build it, its form and materials it will have. But it would make no sense to compromise on the length of the bridge and only build half of it. You wouldn't compromise on the core goal of creating an easy way to cross the river.

Let’s state that as a rule:

Compromise on specifics not on principles.

Only compromise if...

a solution to a conflict does not compromise the fundamental principles of your idea.

By “principles”, I mean the essential moving parts of your idea. The fundamentals that, working together, make your idea deliver the desired results.

Returning to my story above, can you now guess how I was able to predict the downfall from a sequence of bad decisions?

All the decisions were compromises on principles. The exact same principles that made the idea, and the business it was built on, work.

To know whether you’re compromising on principles or specifics, you need to discover and define the essentials of your idea - its working principles.

You know your idea, but do you know its essence? Are the essential parts that work together clearly defined?

You need to know these causal principles, the essentials that make your idea work. Once you grasp the principles of your idea, you’ll be able to predict the consequences of your decisions and actions.

Do not compromise on these principles - they represent what your idea is.

If you do compromise on principles, even though it may seem like the pragmatic thing to do, you’ll eventually only make things worse.

Only compromise if doing so still allows you to maintain the essence of your idea - its principles. That’s when it’s beneficial to both “parties” - your idea and its implementation.

Also watch out for the phenomenon of creeping small steps. Don’t accept compromise on principles even if it’s a small decision with no big consequences. The mere fact you compromised on a principle is a big step in the wrong direction, even if the actual content of the decisions and its consequences are minor.