How (not to) flake out on your commitments.

I recently had occasion to view a delightful video about an inspiring garbage man. It caused me to think about “‍exit strategies‍”.

The term “‍exit strategy‍” is commonly used in a positive context. Sometimes it refers to the foresight to think about “‍what next‍”: how can I give service without building a dependency? Other times it’s the preparation required to try out a chancy prospect without investing the entire future in it: I think this bull is docile, but in case he charges….

But there are other things that people enter with no desire to exit, no matter what—and exit anyway. Marriages end in divorce, relationships with children go from close to fighting, etc. There’s a lot of things we exit without a strategy in mind.

My thought, as much question as insight, is this: might it not be easier to avoid drifting out of a good thing if we go into it knowing what our exits are, not to seek them out but to avoid the first steps toward them? On the one hand, if I can recognize a particular action as being a first step toward destroying something wonderful I can correct it promptly. On the other hand, that which we think about we tend to approach; also, it can be tempting to see a few indicators of the wrong path and give up trying as futilesee Bang-Bang Beliefs.

What do you think?