Escape Hatch · also called secret permission to quit
why do I sabotage myself by leaving an easy way out
An escape hatch is a private, unspoken permission you give yourself to bail if things get hard — a bad night justifies a restart, a rough week justifies a pause. You never actually use it, but knowing it exists is enough to quietly weaken the whole commitment before anything has even gone wrong.
You never opened the hatch. Knowing it was unlocked was enough to soften your grip the whole way.
What to do about it
Name the exact excuse you have been keeping in reserve, and decide out loud, in advance, that it will not be accepted later.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
The Hard Reset$6.99
The Comeback Blueprint$6.99
Rock Bottom Floor$6.99
The Restart Protocol$6.99
The Hard Recovery$6.99
Failure Math$6.99
No One Coming$6.99
Burn The Receipts$6.99Part of the Comeback series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- I always keep an out in case things get hard
- I tell myself I can quit if it gets bad enough
- having a backup plan to bail makes me not really try
- I never use my excuse but knowing it’s there weakens everything
- why do I sabotage myself by leaving an easy way out
- I forgive myself in advance before I’ve even failed
- knowing I can quit any time makes it easier to actually quit
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.