"I have found people willing to tolerate any level of chronic pain in order to avoid acute pain. People would much rather lose slowly over five years than have the conversation that involves a dramatic change to stop losing." Applies to startups, jobs, and relationships 👇
True in startups: Founders will pivot the product five times before having the hard conversation with a cofounder who isn't working out. The product isn't the problem. The cofounder is the problem.
But that conversation is sharp and immediate: it might end the friendship, blow up the cap table, force everyone to confront that the last eighteen months were a waste of time. So instead they just... keep losing slowly.
True in jobs: People stay in roles they've outgrown for years because quitting means admitting the last three years were a dead end. Your work isn't interesting, the product is deprioritized, your boss stopped advocating for you.
But you'd rather stay than dust off the resume, grind leetcode, and explain to your parents why you're switching again. Because the present and mediocre is better than the unknown.
True in relationships: You stay with someone who's "fine" because it's not bad enough to break up but not good enough to move forward. The alternative is a hard conversation, being single at 31, redownloading Hinge. So you stay in limbo. Don't look within yourself.
The lesson is very simple. Choose acute pain.