Always know what you’ll do if the plan falls apart halfway. Middle-of-the-plan panic is the worst kind.

Plans tend to break in the middle, which is the worst possible place. Turning back costs as much as carrying on, the time or money is already spent, and there is nobody convenient to ask. So the deciding happens while you are stressed, which is when your judgment is cheapest. Deciding in advance is the whole trick.

Next time you take on something with moving parts, a trip, a group project, a double shift, name one failure that is genuinely likely. Then write the sentence that answers it: who you call, which bus you take, what you drop. One line is plenty.