When to Hold ‘em; When to Fold ‘em

I’ve had a flurry of similar questions from readers regarding when to “move on” from “toying” with an idea, project or job if one is repeatedly being stymied. I can understand the conundrum because you don’t want to abandon something that could become big yet you don’t want to invest too heavily in the walking dead either.

I thought I’d answer those questions the lazy way, by doing it here instead of writing to each individual separately. This way I embrace two birds with one hug.

These questions got me thinking about how I do things. Since I have certainly clung to projects (financially, emotionally, habitually, stubbornly) way past their expiration dates, I looked at those times and analyzed when and why I finally jumped ship. (Or, in the case of my ice cream company, when I was involuntarily thrown overboard. You can read that story here. The story runs for several posts.)

Here is what I learned from that analysis. I have found that I need an overarching dream. I will happily pursue a project or an idea if that project nourishes my dream. A dream is important to me because it serves as an evolving blueprint on what to do in order to achieve it.

I like my dreams to be paradigm-shifting-world-changing-mega-home-runs. If my current project or idea doesn’t have the potential of realizing a big dream then I abandon it pretty quickly. I guess that is why I could never work for someone else. I’m not interested in doing stuff to realize someone else’s dream unless my dream gets realized also. But many more times than not, that person’s dream is pedestrian compared to mine. And nothing could be more excruciatingly boring to me than dreaming small.

So if a project keeps my dream lively and inspiring, I stay with the project. It usually takes a new project that comes with a vastly improved dream to make it possible for me to let go of an old project. I definitely hate to be between dreams.

www.lazyway.net

Comments

[Adam]

Dreams are very important. It is a great thing as an employer to be able to nourish your employees dreams.Also a good way to maintain quality people.
As a former teacher, I always used to encourge dreaming. It is a sad thing when someone is unable to dream.

[Todd]

I'm not trying to be sarcastic here, I'm genuinly curious as to how an ice-cream shop qualifies as a "paradigm-shifting-world-changing-mega-home-run" idea? Seriously. How did it motivate you so much?

Actually, long distance phone calls don't seem all that exciting either, now that I think of it!

[Denise]

Nice post. It definitely hits home. I left my last full time job with those same words: "It's just not my dream and it's not fulfilling to work so hard to help someone else achieve theirs." I try to come back to that whenever I lose momentum on my "side" projects.

I get the paradigm juice idea you presented -- problem is, if your overarching dream is just to be financially free (mine is), I think it's harder to identify projects worth pursuing, don't you? I mean, I have business ideas all the time that could be IT. Ultimately, I think the approach is evaluating that business (with hard data) in conjunction with your passion for it. Didn't read your ice cream saga yet, but I'm guessing that evaluation had something to do with you moving forward as far as you did.

New to your blog (referred by JLP at All Financial Matters). Looking forward to reading more here soon...

[Andrew Brunelle]

Hey, I love your blog. It's very inspiring. You really hit the nail on the head in a lot of the posts, and I'm now considering getting a hammock. I'm looking to start my own business, but taking the path of least resistance and the most joy. We'll see how it goes. I'm surely looking forward to it. Thank you.

[Malliobiana]

It's good to finish what you start, just keep that dream driving you.