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Carol Szymanski's avatar

I wish they taught “sunk cost fallacy” in elementary school. Once the proverbial light bulb turns on and you realize your partner or your job or something else is definitely not for you, step away. If you can do it graciously and without drama, even better. You don’t owe anyone or anything endless explanations or second chances. They’ll just get better at scamming you. Your gut doesn’t lie to you. It picks up on micro expressions, bad feelings and has a protective bias toward you. You don’t want to continue? Trust yourself. The world doesn’t owe you. You owe you. No one ever advises you to unplug, rest and remove yourself. Yet this is solid advice that will renew you and bring you clarity. Meditate. All the answers are inside of you if you would just be still and listen. Believe yourself. Thank you for another against the grain path to follow Chris!

Interesting photo of the female orange tiger. I was told once that the best mousers are female orange tigers.

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DeathReady with T.J.'s avatar

It's always good to be reminded that we're human BEINGS not human DOINGS :-) And the sunk cost fallacy is real, @carol! But I have been thinking that the networking group I've been in since January is not only not helping me build my business, but it's interfering with my life on a personal level. I'm at the point in life where I just don't want to do what I don't want to do, unless I absolutely have to do it. So I shall wave goodbye to that group come december, and reclaim one day of my week!

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Melissa Sandfort's avatar

T.J.!! I KNOW I need to cut some things out but somehow reading your comment flipped a switch about “regaining a day.” Tomorrow I write the email to quit the thing I know I need to. Thank you!!!!!!

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DeathReady with T.J.'s avatar

Yay for quitting a thing that doesn't serve us!

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Louise Tilbrook ✨'s avatar

This was a real light bulb moment. So true. Sometimes knowing when to stop is even more important than when to start

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Marjenna Kammer's avatar

It has been said that every great artists needs a friend with a 2 x 4 to hit the over them head and tell them to stop so they don't overwork the art and wreck it forever. A bit extreme but perhaps it is true that we tend to overwork and don't stop soon enough.

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Russ Jones | ADHD Big Brother's avatar

I really resonate with this...as well as the normie advice that is meant to have me believe that I must bleed to succeed, or it has to be hard, filled with adversity, I have to keep getting up....normie advice is really depressing half the time...75% of the time. No, I'm comfortable with saying 85-90% of the time. How about..."It has to be easy!" I like that better, feels nicer on my ADHD skull spaghetti.

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Teresa's avatar

The image of the cat was perfect. They have no problem chilling in the midst of chaos.

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Crystal Dufour's avatar

This is so damn true. Often, those sentiments are helpful because I can end up paralyzed when I should just DO. BUT, I also have a tendency to rush into things, make a move without giving any pause to make sure it's the RIGHT move. So, there's no right answer honestly lol. Sometimes DO, sometimes STOP. Ah, to know the right move at the right time.

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Laurie's avatar

Yes!

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Sophie S.'s avatar

I love it! We really do have a tendency to focus way too much on "needing to do something", when sometimes all we need to do is just step back and rest for a bit.

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Dr. Jeff Perron, C.Psych's avatar

Neat article.

From what I understand, the phrase “don’t just do something, sit there” has origins in Buddhist teachings. Interestingly, legendary investor Howard Marks borrowed it in his work, making it a principal of his approach to investing: https://www.oaktreecapital.com/insights/memo/what-really-matters

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