Keep going, change direction, or stop

People frame this as persistence versus quitting, which is a bad frame. There are three doors, and the middle one — change direction — is the one most often skipped, because it requires admitting something was wrong without agreeing that everything was.

Keep going if the thing is working and you are tired

Exhaustion is not a signal about strategy. It is a signal about pace and support. A distressing number of good businesses get abandoned by someone who needed three weeks off and a different operating rhythm.

Change direction if the market keeps telling you something you keep declining to hear

There is usually evidence. The customers who love it are not the ones you targeted. The part you consider a side feature is the only thing anyone asks about. You have been arguing with reality for four quarters.

Stop if you would not start it today

Knowing everything you now know, with the same energy and money, would you begin this? If the honest answer is no, you are not persisting. You are paying interest on an old decision.

And there is a fourth question underneath all three: if this ended tomorrow, what would you feel first? Relief is information. It does not settle the matter, but you should not pretend you didn’t notice it.