To get out ahead of yourself means to act in a situation which is mostly imagined. The distinction between what is imagined and what is really there is mostly approached from the side of the imaginary, where it is difficult but not impossible to discern. For example, it is not so much to seek a response as to want to establish yourself as of the kind that evokes such a response. But you should only live speculatively if there is a real risk of loss, if to gain yourself is to lose yourself. There is no system and you don't know, no effect that follows inevitably from a cause; do not seek but tread lightly and without the least caution.