Persevere. Get emotionally invested. Be a little stubborn. Commit 100%. As investors say, strong opinions, weakly held.
The stages of grief are a biological checklist:
1. Denial: Is it a measurement error? A fluke? Not enough time? Unexpected disadvantage?
2. Anger: Am I a coward for abandoning this? Why did I do this in the first place? Does the new path go against my moral values?
3. Bargaining: Is there a way around this problem? Do I need to give up or can I concede something?
4. Depression: At this point, you accept it is over. Mourn the idea. Have some kind of ritual. Blog about failure. Separate from it cleanly.
The trick is to approach each stage logically.
People tend to be completely irrational. They'll call the data fake, blame the sources, blame luck, blame privilege, government, etc. People get stuck on this for years. They become scared of failure. They burn through the passion, then rely on discipline. Then they burn through the discipline too and settle wherever they are.
Go through the grief, but treat it like a form. You have to deal with each stage, especially depression and the burial of that goal. Sometimes you get stuck at bargaining - "I'll come back to this project later."
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Persevere. Get emotionally invested. Be a little stubborn. Commit 100%. As investors say, strong opinions, weakly held.
The stages of grief are a biological checklist:
1. Denial: Is it a measurement error? A fluke? Not enough time? Unexpected disadvantage?
2. Anger: Am I a coward for abandoning this? Why did I do this in the first place? Does the new path go against my moral values?
3. Bargaining: Is there a way around this problem? Do I need to give up or can I concede something?
4. Depression: At this point, you accept it is over. Mourn the idea. Have some kind of ritual. Blog about failure. Separate from it cleanly.
The trick is to approach each stage logically.
People tend to be completely irrational. They'll call the data fake, blame the sources, blame luck, blame privilege, government, etc. People get stuck on this for years. They become scared of failure. They burn through the passion, then rely on discipline. Then they burn through the discipline too and settle wherever they are.
Go through the grief, but treat it like a form. You have to deal with each stage, especially depression and the burial of that goal. Sometimes you get stuck at bargaining - "I'll come back to this project later."