Masterclass Exercise

Competing Survivals

The system has been running one calculation. This worksheet runs the other one.

Step 1

Lay it out

Write down everything that has been in the way. Every reason this attempt stopped. Every condition you keep waiting on. Then mark what is a real constraint and what is an exit.

A real constraint is structural and unmovable: you cannot move forward until it clears. Everything else is an exit: a future that is not guaranteed to arrive.

Checked: real constraint Unchecked: exit

For each unchecked item: is this guaranteed to happen? Not hoped for, not likely. Guaranteed. If the condition has no guaranteed arrival date, it is an exit.

Step 2

Name what is being protected

When the exits are closed and movement is still stalled, something underneath is being guarded.

If I actually do this and it goes badly, it will mean...

If I actually do this and it goes well, it will mean...

What could happen if you do the thing?

Step 3

Name what it costs to stay

The system has been focused on what moving risks. It has not been asked to account for what staying costs. Write the specific version, not the abstract one.

What has staying here actually been costing you? Concrete and specific. What you have canceled, avoided, delayed, or quietly given up on.

What does continuing to stay look like from here?

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