Two years inside, you don sabi things about your trade wey you no fit read anywhere. You sabi which supplier dey pick call for Friday. You sabi how beta week take look, and you don see some. Na dis part business dey really sweet, and na also di part where one question go start to dey run quietly for back of your mind: how long I go continue?
Di answer no be say make you stop to ask. Di answer na to answer am one time, for paper, while your mind calm, den stop to dey pay rent for di question every month. Dat written answer na stop line: one number, one date, and one limit wey you no go cross. Na di least dramatic document wey you go ever write. E dey allow you push with full strength, because di thing wey go tell you say stop don already decide, and no be your mood for Tuesday.
Wetin stop line be, exactly?
Three things wey you write down before time: one number wey go mean stop, one date wey you go look dat number, and one limit wey you no go cross just to continue. Na di whole thing be dat, and e fit sit for one line of paper.
See one example wey I make boring on purpose. If di shop no cover im own cost for six months back to back by June next year, I go close di storefront and keep am as market stall. I no go put pass 2,000 dollars of my own money inside. I go look dis one on di first of June.
Di number suppose comot from your own account, no be from feeling. Revenue, profit, how many order for one month, hours wey you work against money wey dey comot, whichever one really describe your business. Pick one. Two numbers na negotiation with yourself, and you go win am for whichever direction your body feel dat day.
Di date na wetin dey turn di number into decision instead of threat. E dey talk say: I no dey judge dis thing for March, I dey judge am for June. Everything between now and den na work, no be evidence.
Di limit na di part wey people dey leave out, and na di part wey dey protect di rest of your life. Money wey you no go spend. Debt wey you no go carry. Relationship or job wey you no go sacrifice just to keep di thing dey breathe.
Why I go write am now, when everything dey okay?
Because di version wey you write when your mind calm na di version wey you go really stand behind, and di version wey you write for bad week na di bad week write am. To decide rule before time na one of di better studied ways to make plan survive when e jam your own state of mind.
One bias get name and e dey sidon under all dis. People dey continue one road partly because of wetin dem don already put inside am, and research on dat effect find say di pull of time and money wey person don spend dey show strongest exactly for di moment wey somebody dey reconsider one deal wey don spoil. Na dat month you no wan dey make di decision fresh.
Di opposite true too, and people no dey talk am well. Plenty people dey close business wey healthy well well because of one bad month, because slow week land on top hard week and no rule dey to talk say di month normal. Written line dey protect you for both directions, and di second direction dey save more business pass di first.
Pre-mortem na useful hour here. Di technique, wey Gary Klein describe for Harvard Business Review, na to imagine say na two years from now and di thing don close, den write down why. Di reasons wey you find na raw material for your number, your date and your limit.
Stop line go make me more likely to quit?
For real life e dey do di opposite. Stop line no be plan to quit. Na wetin dey allow you stop to dey reopen di whole venture every month, so you fit use dat month sell.
Count di hours honestly, on your own life, no be on statistic. To reopen di question get cost wey you fit see: afternoon wey waste, di searching, di conversation wey you dey have with yourself for midnight. Whatever dat one add up to for one year, e dey comot straight from di one activity wey for move di number.
Second effect dey wey hard to measure and e probably big pass. Mind. You go price higher, refuse wrong customer, and put money for di part of di business wey need am, when you sabi exactly where your floor dey. When person no sabi whether im even dey continue, e dey make am hedge, and hedging cost money.
Den tell one person di line. Talk am with mouth, one time, to somebody wey go remember am. Line wey dey only inside your head go dey edited quietly and always downward. Line wey anoda person hear go stay di size wey you make am.
Wetin go happen di day wey di number talk say stop?
You go do di thing wey you write, and to pause count as doing am. Plenty stop lines no be choice between continue and close forever. Na choice between di current shape and one smaller shape wey cost far less to keep alive.
Shapes wey no be closing: di storefront turn stall, di full catalog turn three products, di service turn something wey you dey do two evenings for one month for di clients wey you really like. Each of dem na live business with lower monthly cost and small fraction of di pressure, and any of dem fit grow again when something change.
If e really be say you dey close, close am well and inside one week instead of drag am for one year with half attention. Tell customers before dem hear am from elsewhere. Deliver di orders wey you don collect. Pay whoever you owe first. Talk wetin happen for one plain public sentence, no apology, no long story, and keep di name.
Den take one month before you decide wetin you think about am. Business wey end no be judgement on you. Na one experiment wey somebody run reach conclusion, somebody wey now sabi im trade pass almost anybody wey im go meet, and plenty people wey later build something wey work get one of dis kain story for dia back.
Di year two problem, and to hold anoda person line
No be idea dey finish for year two. Na stamina. Di founder of KEEP CALM talk say im hustle all im life and im find ways to stay calm through am, and dat training na one of di ways im carry di pressure of building career. Na im account of im own twenty years, no be prescription, but di shape of am worth borrowing: di ordinary maintenance, di sleep, di movement, di food, no separate from di business. Na di equipment wey di business dey run on.
Di oda half of telling one person your line na to hold dia own. Ask somebody wey you respect wetin dia number and dia date be, write di two down, and put note for your calendar to ask dem on dat date. E go cost you one message twice a year. Wetin go come back no be sentiment: person wey sabi say somebody go ask am dey read im own line more honestly, and na so e go be for you too.
Den read your own again once a year, on date wey you pick today. Most years you no go change anything and you go just go back to work. Na wetin stop line dey for be dat. E no be warning say you dey want too much. Na di paperwork wey dey allow you want plenty, out loud, for very long time.
Sources
- Communications Biology, Sunk cost sensitivity during change-of-mind decisions is informed by both the spent and remaining costs
- Harvard Business Review, Performing a Project Premortem
- Frontiers in Psychology, A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions on Goal Attainment