There are only opportunities

 

You find the best opportunity and then go in that direction

 

How far you went doesn’t matter — if a better opportunity emerges

You just change direction

 

Why is “perseverance” an ideal, then?

Perseverance is an ideal because of OPACITY involved, UNCERTAINTY involved

You actually DON’T KNOW what the BEST OPPORTUNITY IS

There’s always element of the unknown

And the only thing we can do with the unknown is to EXPLORE it

 

Therefore once you wandered out into the unknown — you might as well stay a little bit longer

Going back guarantees the known — since you already thread this path on your way here, to this unknown place

And yes it was an investment. When you walk out the door, you don’t immediately find yourself in the UNKNOWN. You first have to thread the well trodden path, to lead you out of the city, then deeper into the woods

So the most general heuristic INDEED is to PERSEVERE a little longer

Go where no one’s been

Definitely go where you haven’t been

When you can, go there

Don’t yet turn back and run home

See if there’s something more to find there

Look for gold

Look for experience

 

Of course as you progress in life, the priorities will be different:

 

As you mature, the UNKNOWN will be further away from your base

as you have more and more consolidated your life,

and as you have more and more psychologically succumbed to this compulsion of FEELING more CERTAIN about reality, of having opinions and knowing your place and having an EGO

Both will require overcoming, to reach the new, and progress in life

This is also why life gets so boring and runs so fast, as you get older, as compared to your youth

It’s all a function of the NEW, how much of the NEW and UNKNOWN and ADVENTUROUS there still is in your life

 

As you build things, become things — that inevitably becomes your nieche, your castle, your advantage, and your opportunity

AND your prison, if you will

You have built a structure, and building structures on top of that structure is now easier than starting anything new,

The greater the structure — the lesser the chance of ever matching it

And the lesser the incentive to do anything else, anything new,

Thus new opportunities die in the shadow of this lifetime-opportunity, lifetime mission of yours

 

And of course the more you have — the more you have to lose, and the less to gain

Again, what you own ends up owning you, remember that quote?

Sometimes to move forward you have to go back

Sometimes to gain you first gave to give up

 

Indeed,

How far you went doesn’t matter – if a better opportunity emerges

How far you went doesn’t matter – if you CHOOSE to NO LONGER VALUE your past

PAST BE DAMNED,

And indeed, attachment alone is holding you back

Might as well learn to GIVE UP sooner,

And find a new opportunity

 

There’s one more thing that comes with exploration — JUDGEMENT

This is actually the single thing you acquire which may not be a burden in your future explorations

Because if you truly acquired JUDGEMENT — then you finally have what it takes to actually be able to ASCERTAIN BETTER OPPORTUNITIES

When entire world is unknown — you can’t tell which of the precarious uncertain opportunities is best worth pursuing

It ends up best if you JUST STICK with any of those, learn your lessons, and adjust when you’re wiser. Hence the perseverance advice

However when you’re wise and judicious and experienced — you actually have the JUDGEMENT to KNOW WHEN TO GIVE UP

 

Indeed you should view everything in terms of investment, investing opportunity,

WHAT’S THE BEST OPPORTUNITY?

WHAT’S THE BEST USE OF YOUR TIME, ENERGY, ATTENTION, CAPITAL, RESOURCES?

And the better your judgement is — the more accurate your decisions will be

Including the ability to let the sunk cost go, to turn back from the dead end, to pivot

 

To conclude:

-You likely shouldn’t make a habit of quickly changing your mind, of giving up

-You should be exploring the possibilities, exploring the unknown

-As you build and create and develop and progress — there emerges a certain consolidation, gravity, around your strengths

-That is both great and terrible

-The judgement acquired through exploring and tinkering and building and learning will however allow you to make the difficult decision to REALLOCATE your resources