The Hard Thing Rule
Commit to one hard thing — and you only quit on a natural stopping point.
The concept
Quitting rules that protect both grit and sanity
Duckworth's research on grit shows that perseverance compounds when the rules for quitting are decided in advance. Her family's 'Hard Thing Rule' lets anyone quit — but only at a season's end, recital, or other natural break — never on a bad day.
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0 / 3Get reminded to actually run this
Pivots only work when you use them. Send me a gentle nudge:
How people ran this
Used this before a portfolio review. Sat with the dread for 8 minutes, then opened Figma and just shipped the worst version. Got the best feedback of my year.
Maya, product designer
Ran it during a planning week when I kept rewriting the same doc. Three rough versions in 15 minutes — my staff eng picked the one I least liked.
Jordan, eng manager
I'm a chronic deleter. The 'name the feeling' step was the unlock. It was almost always shame, not perfectionism.
Anon
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