The return policy

The Idea

Before you start something difficult, decide under what conditions you’ll stop.

Not because you plan to quit. Because the decision you make now — when you’re rested, clear-headed, and not yet six months invested — is almost always better than the one you’ll make when you’re frustrated, exhausted, and defending a choice you’ve sunk years into.

This is what Annie Duke calls a “kill criteria.” A pre-committed set of conditions that, if met, triggers a re-evaluation. It works for projects, careers, relationships, companies. It works precisely because it was decided before the emotional stakes were high enough to distort the reasoning.

The return policy is not pessimism about your ability to succeed. It is honesty about how human judgment degrades under pressure. You are not the same thinker at month six, behind schedule and doubting yourself, as you were on day one. The version of you that exists before you begin is the clearest version. Use that version while you have it.

Setting a return policy also does something subtler: it changes how you pursue the thing. When you know the exit conditions in advance, you’re no longer clinging — you’re executing. The fear that keeps people from defining their exit is the same fear that makes them terrible at knowing when to use it.

One Question

What would have to be true — concretely — for you to stop what you’re currently pursuing?

Today’s Action

Pick one ongoing commitment — a project, a habit, a goal. Write down, in one sentence, the condition under which you would quit it. Not “if it gets too hard.” Something specific: a date, a number, a result that hasn’t appeared.

File it somewhere you’ll find it.

Go Deeper

Knowing your exit doesn’t weaken your resolve. It frees you from having to defend the commitment emotionally every time it gets difficult. The return policy is what separates persistence from stubbornness.

Sources

• Annie Duke — Quit