on knowing when to stop

Everyone talks about how to start your project, your career, a relationship but almost nobody talks about how to know when to stop.

1. stop when you’re spinning your wheels
2. stop when you’ve disengaged your brain
   • If you have trouble with this say out loud, firmly, “stop” and then step away from the thing and do something else, ideally away from the screen.
3. stop when you’ve reached a milestone
4. stop when you still feel good
5. stop when you feel that “just one or two more will make it perfect”
6. stop when you’ve still got gas in the tank
7. stop when you first notice your hunger/thirst

These are all strategies I’ve found useful at one time or another.

For a certain type of person learning when to stop is just as difficult as how to start ¹ My dad, a chemist at heart, used to say that every action takes activation energy and if you can just get started often things will start to flow

__“motivation follows action, not the other way around.” __