There is a form of excitement that comes with starting a new project or anything new, infact I have shared a post in the past that you do not have to wait until you are completely ready before you start. Well, in this article, I will talk about the other side of the pot, which is knowing when to stop. It is not very often that we get to see stuff that talks about stopping because it could be misconstrued for giving up or quitting, and more items are fixated on getting started and getting the job done.
Knowing when to stop is hard, especially when you have gone in too deep. How do you pull yourself out of it without feeling bad or worse, feeling like a disappointment to yourself? This is quite hard and I have to tell you it will not be smooth. It is hard to turn your back, especially if it is all you have ever known. Imagine giving all your time, dedication, and attention to something that does not pan out well for you. I can say for sure I have faced certain difficulties like this, and trust me when I say I am the guy who finds it hard to say goodbye.
In the world of finance, it is easy to see the losses or when things are not going in your direction. This all happens with the candlesticks. When you are bullish on a trade, and you see red candlesticks, you know it is not going in your direction, and when you are bearish, and you see green candlesticks, you know it is going against you. This is how you see the nature of the trade going against you but the hard part comes in for people when they refuse to close their position. They have lost too much, and all they can hope for is a reversal towards their direction, which is almost rarely the case. Even worse is when it happens on rare occasions, so they think it will happen again. There is even a word for this, which is The Sunk Cost Fallacy. It is when you continue to invest in a project despite its failures, simply because you have invested a huge portion of your time, money, or effort into it in the first place.
Now, I am sure you should be getting a glimpse of why it is hard to know when to stop. We have lost so much to give up at this point. This notion alone can be more destructive than it sounds. Here is a sad part from playing chess that I discovered the hard way. Sometimes the attack you have been chasing on the board has worn off, so all you have to do is retreat your pieces. It sounds simple, but for an attacking player like myself, I still find it difficult to do so. Giving up after a whole lot has been invested can be difficult to do, infact it might be impossible for some people, but when it starts to affect other aspects of your life, that is when you put an end to it. If it helps, look at it as preserving more energy for the other endeavours you will embark on. It is hard and there is no doubt in that but there will be more opportunites than you think.
I am @samostically, a chess player and writer. I love to share the experience I have gained from different battles over the 64 squares and the knowledgeable insights from books I have read. But most importantly, I am a Midnight Owl and I founded the community Midnight Letters.
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Images are mine!