Chapter Content
Okay, so you've stuck with something, right? Maybe it was a blog, maybe it was journaling, maybe you even took improv classes. Good for you! But now what? Like, you finished the thing.
It's easy to think, "Okay, gotta go bigger, better, faster!" We're kinda wired that way, you know? Especially when it comes to work. Our whole economy's built on "more." It's like, you gotta capitalize on the momentum, prove it was “worth it.”
But hold on a second. Completing something doesn’t *have* to mean striving for more. Really. You’re at a crossroads. There are a few ways you can go. Three main ones, I think.
First, you can *persist*. Basically, keep going! The wind's in your sails, you're digging the experiment, learning stuff, feeling good. Just ride the wave, prolong the thing. Simple as that.
Second, you could *pause*. Maybe the experiment's draining you, affecting your life in a bad way, clashing with other stuff you gotta do. It's not going well, so you just... stop. Or at least put it on hold.
And third, you could *pivot*. Tweak the experiment a little bit. Increase the scope, decrease it, change up your tools or tactics. The basic idea stays the same, but you make a little course correction.
Now, we'd *like* to think we can choose rationally, but our brains don't always work that way. Emotions play a huge part. So, let’s dig into each option a little bit, and then I'll share a simple tool to help you make a good decision.
Let’s start with persisting. I actually heard myself say, "I'm terrible at meditation. It just doesn't work for me." That's when I decided to try meditating for fifteen minutes a day for fifteen days. And guess what? It was great! I didn't miss a day, and I even enjoyed it.
So, naturally, the second I finished, my mind started racing. Longer meditations! Formal training! Crazy intensive courses! Luckily, I caught myself and remembered that I actually *liked* my meditation the way it was.
Why do we always feel the need to do more? I think persisting is actually a bold move. It's like taking a stand against the constant pressure to always be hustling. We think enjoying momentum is just coasting, but it shouldn't be!
Equating stillness with failure is a pretty modern idea. In a lot of indigenous cultures, success is about sustainability and harmony. In medieval guilds, it was about maintaining a standard of excellence. And in a lot of Asian philosophies, balance is key. Persisting can actually create space for rest, reflection, and self-discovery.
Persisting can be a bold way of showing the world what you value, you know? Like the guy who created Calvin and Hobbes. He didn't want to just slap his characters on everything for the sake of money. He wanted to keep the integrity of his work. Or this woman, Maria Popova, who's been writing these long-form essays for her blog for ages. She could have churned out a bunch of shallow content to get more popular, but she stuck with what she loved.
It's like, persistence, showing up consistently, can be a real differentiator in a world obsessed with leveling up.
Okay, next up, pausing. Imagine you get a white elephant as a gift. Sounds cool, right? Except it’s super expensive to take care of, you can't make it work, and you can't even give it away. You’re stuck!
We do this to ourselves all the time, right? Staying in a job we hate, throwing money at a failing business, staying in a relationship way too long. It's called the sunk cost fallacy – throwing good money after bad just because you already invested.
There's a stigma around quitting, like it's a sign of weakness, but sometimes it's the *bravest* thing you can do. To admit that something's not working and walk away. It's like this entrepreneur says, "Quitting the projects that don't go anywhere is essential if you want to stick out the right ones."
I call it "pause" because it eases the pressure, and also because it's often temporary. You can always come back to it later. I once started a YouTube channel and made a pact to publish a video every week. It was rough! I was so nervous on camera, stressing about every edit, and I really struggled to translate my writing. I decided to pause the pact.
But guess what? Two years later, I wanted to try YouTube again. This time, I hired someone to edit my videos. The pact was the same – weekly videos – but my approach was different. Taking that pressure off allowed me to enjoy the process.
Sometimes, though, the end is just the end. The guy who created Calvin and Hobbes took a break and then decided to stop the comic altogether. He felt like he'd done everything he wanted to do.
So, if you’re trying to learn, quitting isn't failure. It's adapting. Don't cling to something that's not working. Pause when your data tells you to change course, when your health is suffering, or when you're just not getting anything out of it.
Alright, let’s talk about pivoting. Picture some warships sailing through fog. They were supposed to be going as fast as possible, but the fog was so thick that they had to estimate their position. Then, they got a signal that said they were way off.
They could have slowed down, checked the water depth, prioritized safety. But slowing down meant they would have failed. So, they kept going, and they crashed. A lot of people died.
The lesson? When things are uncertain, you can’t ignore new information.
Of course, staying the course can be the right call *sometimes*. The point is to make these choices deliberately. Stay open to signs that you need to change.
Focus on your hypothesis – what are you trying to learn? Do you have enough data? If you're still curious and you need to make some changes, then pivoting might be a good idea. The goal is always to learn, grow, and discover.
Think about *how much* change you need. Is it a small tweak or a big revamp? A musician might switch their practice schedule from morning to evening because of a new job. Or they might reduce their practice time because of family stuff.
Ask yourself, "What can I adjust so I can keep learning and growing?"
When I first started my company, I was writing five articles a week. It was perfect at the time, but as my company grew, I started doing other things and realized I needed to scale it back. I started by writing three articles a week, then two, and then finally just one when I started writing this book! Now, the newsletter is still going after five years, and it has amazing engagement rates.
By being flexible and making adjustments when necessary, you can keep your experiment on track. Be iterative, not rigid. Approach it like a scientist, not an officer following orders. Don't worry if your route meanders a little bit. Your pact should evolve with you.
The important thing is to pay attention to the right signals, and that you are making the right decisions.
Now, most of us aren't really equipped to handle a ton of information. We tend to focus on one goal, the first option we see, and what we *think* is going to happen. We rely too much on either what's going on around us or what's going on inside us. That gives us an incomplete picture.
Even the old pros-and-cons list is flawed. Sure, it looks objective, but your emotions can still influence what you put in each column. You might emphasize certain cons just to justify what you already want to do. Also, it can make you focus *too much* on what's happening around you and ignore your emotions.
So, instead, practice decision framing. Widen your cone of uncertainty! Think about external *and* internal signals. Consider your life with systematic curiosity, like an anthropologist.
External signals are things like a new job, changes in your schedule, kids starting school. Internal signals are things like feeling like a chore or feeling overwhelmed. They're just as important as external ones. Don't just act on gut feelings.
Make an effort to articulate both. You can capture all these signals and broaden your decision frame using a simple Steering Sheet.
Ask yourself these questions.
External signals: How does your pact fit with your current circumstances? Is it manageable? Is it in conflict with other commitments? Is something in your life taking up a lot of emotional energy? Has anything in the world changed?
Internal signals: How do you feel about your pact now? Is it still fulfilling? Is it a source of tension? How confident do you feel? What other feelings and beliefs come up when you think about your pact?
Once you've listed all the external and internal signals, you can step back and get a fuller picture. This will help you make a more informed choice about whether to persist, pause, or pivot.
Remember, there's no "right" choice. But if you’re used to winning and achieving, that might frustrate you. But it's almost impossible to fail when you see everything as an experiment. There’s no wrong choice either! It's a path you walk to discover more about yourself and the world. You might find the perfect groove, or you might realize that something doesn't feel right. Either way, you’ve learned something!
The only failure is just going through the motions without thinking. As long as you keep adapting, learning, and growing, you're winning.