perseverance

"monkey wants us to run away, but clear thinking knows it's a skill to refine."

the instinct to flee

when things are cooked — when the project is broken, the deadline is tight, the team is frustrated — every instinct says to bail. switch projects, take a long break, find something easier. the monkey brain optimized for survival, not for pushing through hard technical problems.

but clear thinking knows: the ability to stay when things are hard is a skill. and like any skill, it gets better with practice.

when to persevere vs. when to pivot

this is the hard distinction. sometimes the right move IS to backtrack — "when nothing is working, backtrack like crazy" (see zooming-out). perseverance doesn't mean stubbornly pushing in the wrong direction.

the test: am i persevering on the right thing, or am i just afraid to admit this approach is wrong? critical-path helps here — if you're on the critical path, push through. if you're grinding on something that doesn't matter, zooming out is the better move.

optimism as fuel

"always think of things that could work, never fear that stuff won't work out." optimism isn't naivety — it's a practical stance. pessimism drains energy and makes giving up easier. optimism keeps you looking for solutions.

this connects to narratives — an optimistic narrative sustains perseverance. a defeated narrative undermines it.

energy expenditure

"expending more energy frequently works." from the CEO of a startup i worked at. evolution optimized us to save energy, but in knowledge work there's no reason to conserve. see startup-workflow.