{{first_name|Hey}},
Most solopreneurs don't fail because they pick the wrong thing.
They fail because they refuse to stop doing the wrong thing.
There's a difference between patience and avoidance. Patience has evidence behind it. Avoidance has hope. And hope is not a strategy.
This week on Five Prompts, we've been digging into clarity, direction, and the hard decisions most people dodge. Killing projects, stress-testing direction, finding your north star. The stuff that separates people who are busy from people who are building.
One prompt stood out.
Prompt of the Week: Check the Sunk Cost
Paste this into ChatGPT or Claude:
"I have a project I'm not sure is worth continuing. Here's the project: [describe it]. Here's how long I've been running it: [time]. Here's the results so far: [describe results]. If I were starting fresh today knowing what I know now, would I start this again? Don't be kind. Be honest."
This works because it removes the emotional anchor. You're not asking "should I quit." You're asking "would I start." Completely different question. One is loaded with guilt. The other is loaded with clarity.
The Deeper Layer
Here's what I've learned running marketing for brands like Disney, Hasbro, and Bank of America: every single one of them has killed more projects than they've shipped. The difference between a Fortune 500 company and a struggling solopreneur isn't resources. It's the willingness to cut what's not working without making it mean something about who they are.
You don't need more ideas. You need fewer active projects and more conviction behind the ones that remain.
Try this: open your task manager or project list right now. Run that prompt on the one project you keep telling yourself "just needs more time." If the AI says you wouldn't start it again, believe it.
Your move: Hit reply and tell me which project you're finally going to kill. I read every response.
Keep building,
Tuck