What’s Your Threshold?
Ask yourself a question. It’s a simple one that may (or may not) have a simple answer.
What’s your threshold?
What’s the point you say “Enough’s enough” and walk away?
Where you see that your plan has failed and you admit as much?
Where’s the leveling off point?
Are you good at seeing the danger in advance, or are you stubborn in the hope that everything will work out? Is one better than the other? Success can often come through adversity – do you ride the storm out or recognize you’re beating a dead horse?
The best strategies have an exit plan. These are the thresholds that say, “Okay, we tried but it’s not working.”
Can you adapt something that isn’t working? Did you plan for all eventualities? Do you have an exit strategy?
If so, what’s your threshold?
photo credit: elusive_fish
12 Responses to “What’s Your Threshold?”
Danny,
My threshold in a project is when the meaning is gone. And if I have to keep faking it to make it, it means two things:
1) It won’t work out in the long run.
2) I would have never been happy anyhow.John
I don’t think either one of these can be argued with, John.
Cheers.
My challenge is knowing and feeling when the meaning is gone. I’m incredibly loyal – even to bad ideas…
I just deleted about nine sentences I was going to post as a comment. I’d crossed my threshold.
I’ve been writing for so many years–from printed newspapers and newsletters to online media–that I sometimes take forever to get my point across. Twitter has helped me narrow that band, to be more precise than I sometimes care to be to remain within its 140-character constraint without running over.
Once I run over, like I did with my before-deleted comment, I went too far, wrote too much, and force myself to start over. Like I did here. And like a little birdie in my head is telling me I soon will do on Twitter.
great question. for me, simple answer.
i look at life (and projects) as red light-yellow light-green light. when i am confused as to direction in my life or even with a certain project…i ASK for it to be made very obvious….red/yellow/green??? within a day (usually unmistakable…) lights show up to tell me how to follow. if red lights come, generally this road is not for me…(as attractive as it may seem and if i ollow it usually wish i hadn’t). yellows, i keep asking for clarity…greens? no matter how hard/impossible/unreasonable the “things” that get the green lights?…they TAKE OFF!!! …they fly. the discipline is to ASK and then of course to listen. (what good is asking if we don’t listen) ;p
That’s a great analogy and method to use, Suzanne. How do you decide when it goes from yellow to green? Is there a method you use or is it a more organic approach?
;p organic – but always very clear when it’s a green. feels right. sometimes if i am confused about two alternatives (yellow lights…just not sure), i will say each alternative aloud and tune into how i “feel” saying them…usually i can tell which is the direction for me by way i feel saying them. Ex: “take job in AZ. sell the house and move” breathe. then say “say no to job in AZ and stay put”. say each aloud, feel how you feel when you say the alternative…then follow. (helps to talk over with my hubby too.) hope this helps you or someone else out there. comes down to intuition on some level really. trusting self/spirit to guide.
You raise some great questions (which I touched upon a few days ago on my blog but I’m glad you explored much further here) about the point at which you just say you’re done.
The part I think I struggle with is the part where decide you’re either done with the idea because it’s not working or you decide to adapt the idea further to try and make it work.
I don’t really know what the answer is there. You could just stop and move on and wonder what might have happened if you tried adapting. Or you could try adapting endlessly and never really get anywhere.
Hmm…
I think before you even set out on any strategy or plan, it needs to have a set cut off point. Of course, once you reach that, it then comes down to how disciplined you are at sticking to these cut offs…
Danny, This blog post hit it right on the nose for me. I am at a point in my current job where my threshold may be very soon. One can only do so much in trying to encourage others to try new things or to be heard on topics that inspire yourself, but not others. Maybe it is time for me to move on to a new role that enables me to move towards what I want to do in my career. Have been spinning my wheels in my current role for way too long.
Sorry to hear that, Mark – nothing more frustrating than knowing something could be so much different, better, however you wih to look at it.
I guess the one good thing to come from your decision time is that you know what your threshold is now, and that will help you find that job that allows you to extend it further.
At least you have the vision to spot it – many don’t, and that gives you a great advantage. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, fella.
I think my threshold literally is when I’m being dragged out of life kicking, screaming and clawing. I don’t give up. I can’t in some respects I have to much that I want to accomplish.