We are good at starting things, but we can’t imagine how they will end. At least not easily. And they will.
That’s why people with more resources than most of us have teams of attorneys coming up with better ways of preparing for the inevitable. They have exit clauses, golden parachutes, trust funds, prenuptial agreements; all designed so that their future self doesn’t regret what their present self did.
I few days back, I signed a document letting go of a 40% stake in a partnership. For $1. I decided that was going nowhere, but I also put a lot of effort into it. Time and worries that I could have used in something that would have given me joy.
I didn’t even get a “thank you”.
This time, I get to walk unscarred, dust off, and start again.
We have to listen to our pessimist side, if for nothing else, to have a plan.