Stop "pulling pennies" one at a time when the answer is already obvious.
The question during a deep dream came without warning. I was sitting in a soundproof booth on some old-school game show—bright lights, silence, nowhere to hide. A voice cut through the speaker:
“What’s one lesson life has taught you?”
No time to stall. No time to polish the answer. So I told the truth.
“Imagine there’s a jar with 100,000 pennies inside. It’s yours—every last one—but the opening is too small to reach in properly. You can get them out… one at a time. Slowly. Carefully. Or you can smash the jar.”
That was it. That was the answer.
When I woke up, I kept thinking about it. So I asked ChatGPT what it meant. It said:
“Sometimes the smart move is to break the system open and take what’s already yours. The jar is time, effort, overthinking, and outdated rules. The hammer is decisiveness.”
And yeah—that hit a little too close to home.
Because most of us are trained to pull pennies. Work harder. Be patient. Think it through. Wait your turn. One penny at a time. It sounds responsible. It even feels noble. But sometimes it’s just slow… and safe… and quietly wrong.
I’ve done it. I’ve sat there—mentally, emotionally—reaching into the jar, pulling out one tiny decision at a time. Especially when I was unsure. Nervous. Stuck between options.
I told myself I was being careful.
But there comes a point when careful turns into something else. When thinking to long about a decision becomes a way to avoid making another one. Same thing when decisions involved other people. I’d slow-walk conversations, soften edges, stretch things out… when deep down I already knew where it was going.
I didn’t need more time.
I needed a hammer.
Here’s the part nobody says out loud: Overthinking is just fear wearing a suit. And patience? Sometimes it’s wisdom. Other times, it’s just procrastination with better PR.
At some point, you start to recognize it.
And right now? You’ve probably got one. Maybe it’s a decision you’ve been circling for weeks… or months. A conversation you keep rehearsing but never have. A move you already know you need to make.
You don’t need another opinion. You don’t need more time. And you definitely don’t need to pull another penny.
You need to decide. You need to act. You need to smash the jar.
So ask yourself—honestly: Where in your life are you still pulling pennies? And where should you have smashed the jar already?
If you’ve got a story—where you hesitated… or where you finally swung the hammer—I want to hear it.
Now, don't get me wrong. Sometimes we really do need to slow down, gather more information, and think things through. Not every decision calls for a hammer and a dramatic entrance.
But there's a difference between taking the time to make a good decision and endlessly postponing one because we're afraid of getting it wrong.
The trick—perhaps a skill we learn through experience—is knowing when we've done enough thinking and it's time to act.