Keep going, adjust or stop?

Persistence doesn’t mean continuing at any cost

You’ve put many evenings and a lot of money into a project. The results are disappointing, and you’re losing interest. You might feel obliged to continue because it would be a shame to waste all that effort. But the effort you’ve already put in is gone. Your decision should focus mainly on what the next step could bring.

Consider four options: continue as before, change your approach, reduce the scope or end the project. Ask yourself: What’s really causing the problem? Is there new evidence that things could improve? How many more resources will it take? Does the goal still align with your values?

For example, you write an expert blog, but readers aren’t responding. Before ending it, you might check whether the topics meet their needs. But if the project has been taking time away from important commitments for a long time, scaling back or stopping may be a sensible decision, not a personal failure.

Be careful with goals that may take longer to produce meaningful results. Don’t give up at the first sign of discomfort. Instead, set a criterion for your next review, such as a trial run with a clear scope and a date to evaluate it.

When deciding, don’t compare only the dream with today’s disappointing results. Compare what continuing realistically might involve with what else you could do with the same time and energy.

Try it out: Choose one activity you’re working on. Write down the conditions under which you’d continue, change the plan or stop. Setting criteria in advance reduces the chance of deciding based only on momentary frustration or pride.