Most people operate between two invisible metrics without consciously choosing either:

- Where they stand relative to others

- What they contribute to the system

The first metric is subtle but dominant. It shows up as comparison:

“Am I ahead or behind?”

“How am I perceived?”

“Am I doing enough to stand out?”

This way of thinking anchors your decisions to status. Your attention shifts outward—to other people, their progress, their recognition, their positioning. Even growth becomes comparative. Improvement is no longer about becoming more capable, but about not falling behind.

The second metric is quieter but more grounded:

“What is my actual contribution?”

“What is better because I was here?”

This shifts the entire frame.

Instead of scanning others, you start scanning the system:

Where is it weak?

What is unclear?

What is slow, fragile, or missing?

Your focus moves from perception to impact.

When you operate on contribution:

- Gaps become visible, not threatening

- Weaknesses become targets, not insecurities

- Effort becomes directional, not reactive

You no longer need to constantly measure yourself against others, because the reference point is no longer people—it is the system itself.

The question changes.

Not:

“Who am I better than?”

But:

“What can I improve next?”

This creates a different kind of momentum. One that compounds. Because every action either strengthens the system or clarifies where it needs strengthening.

Ironically, this is also how relative position improves.

People who consistently increase system capability—who remove friction, clarify complexity, and enable others—naturally become visible. Not by signaling, but by consequence.

They don’t chase status, but instead they become difficult to ignore.

The shift is simple, but not easy:

From optimizing for position

→ to optimizing for contribution

From “How do I rank?”

→ to “What did I improve?”

Once that shift happens, comparison loses its grip. And work becomes more concrete, more honest, and more effective.

I’ve been late to thinking in terms of variables.

I don’t even know if “variable-oriented thinking” is a real phrase. I’m using it because it matches what I keep noticing in my own days. Most of the time, I don’t actually live inside “goals” or “actions.” I live inside conditions. And those conditions quietly decide wha…

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Have you ever noticed how the very traits we criticize most in others somehow end up showing up in our own lives?

There is a psychological mechanism behind this—one that explains why many people lose their balance at the most unexpected moments, often when everything seems to be going well.

Projection

Carl Jung described this mechanism as projection.

Projection is what happens when we attribute to others the parts of ourselves we don’t want to see.

Traits we have rejected, disowned, or pushed away internally do not disappear. Instead, they reappear out there, attached to other people—triggering reactions that feel unusually strong: irritation, judgment, or admiration that seems out of proportion.

But this raises an important question.

If we believe we know who we are—and if we genuinely think of ourselves as decent people—where do these automatic reactions come from?

What is this part of us that decides who we avoid, who we criticize, and who we are drawn to, often without conscious choice?

The Shadow

Jung called this hidden part of us the shadow.

The term is fitting for an important reason. A shadow is not something you look at directly. You only see it where it falls.

In the same way, you don’t discover the shadow by staring inward. You see it reflected—most often—through other people.

That is why these reactions feel automatic.

Automatic Reactions and Threats to Identity

Think about how you would react if someone suddenly ran toward you holding a knife.

You would not pause to analyze the situation. Your body and mind would respond instantly. No deliberation. No conscious reasoning.

A similar reflex is triggered when we sense a threat—not to our physical safety, but to our identity.

Just as we instinctively protect our body, we also protect our sense of who we are. Our values, beliefs, preferences, and self-image form a coherent story that allows us to function in the world.

The ego lives inside that story.

When something—or someone—threatens it, the response is rarely rational. It is automatic.

If you have followed this far, this is where the mechanism becomes essential to understand.

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You wake up on a weekday morning with that quiet resistance in your chest. Not fear. Not panic. Just a low-grade heaviness that says, again. You’re good at your job. People rely on you. Nothing is obviously wrong. And yet, something inside you keeps pulling back.

At work, you’re composed. You listen carefully. You don’t create tension. In meetings, you feel the words rise—an objection, a better idea, a boundary—but you swallow them. You tell yourself it’s not the right time. Or it won’t matter. Or you’ll say it one-on-one later.

Later rarely comes.

On the drive home, the mind starts talking.

“I should’ve said something.”

“That decision makes no sense.”

“Why am I always the one adjusting?”

At first, this feels like maturity. Being professional. Being flexible. And for a while, it works. You become the reliable one. The safe one. The person who can handle things without drama.

But here’s where the problem begins—quietly.

When you consistently silence yourself, you don’t just lose your voice. You lose investment. You start caring less, not because you want to, but because caring without agency hurts too much. You stop offering ideas unless asked. You stop pushing for better outcomes. You do your job, but you’re no longer in it.

Carl Jung described this exact mechanism:

“Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”

Most people don’t know the word shadow. They just feel the symptoms. Irritation that comes out of nowhere. Fatigue that rest doesn’t fix. A strange bitterness toward work that used to feel meaningful.

What you pushed down—anger, ambition, the need to be respected—didn’t disappear. It went underground. And underground pressure always finds an exit.

Sometimes it blows up as disengagement.

You stop volunteering. You stop growing. Performance slowly declines, and suddenly you’re labeled “not as sharp as before.” You didn’t change overnight—but the cost of self-suppression finally showed up in your output.

Sometimes it blows up as conflict.

One day, someone crosses a line just slightly, and you snap. Not proportionally—everyone can feel that. People are shocked. “This is so unlike you.” What they don’t see is the years of swallowed moments behind that reaction.

Jung warned about this delayed eruption:

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

When darkness isn’t acknowledged, it leaks—or explodes.

Other times, it blows up sideways.

You become passive-aggressive. Sarcasm creeps in. You start resisting decisions silently, slowing things down, withholding cooperation without admitting it—even to yourself. You’re still “nice,” but something has hardened.

And then there’s the quietest blow-up of all: you leave.

No clear reason. No big incident. You tell people, “It just wasn’t the right fit.” Six months later, the same heaviness returns in the new role. Different company. Same internal dynamic.

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Carl Jung wrote a line that quietly dismantles how we think about control, growth, and “understanding”:

It was only after the illness that I understood how important it is to affirm one’s own destiny. In this way …

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1. The Mind’s Default Setting

There are many people who wake up and immediately feel dread or sadness for the day ahead. Most of them either accept these feelings and let them shape the rest of the day, or analyze them endlessly without finding a quick solution. That usually makes things worse. When they realize the antid…

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Sometimes we see ourselves as deeply incompetent. That feeling can stay with us for years.

This is not a motivational speech. It’s what I came to see about how reality works.

After I started managing people, I realized how many bright minds carry invisible wounds, shaped by difficult relationships, toxic workplaces, or early experiences that left them dou…

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Sometimes we all lose the joy in our work. Some call it a loss of motivation, some call it a lack of discipline. Whatever the reason, there is a way to improve it.

People typically lose the joy in their work when the work changes constantly, preventing them from ever benefiting from accumulated learning. They find themse…

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I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked how to find more motivation to reach goals. For a long time, I didn’t think I had the best answer. My answers worked for me only if I alternated them often, but even rotating strategies sometimes required motivation itself. On the other hand, those who don’t believe in motivation usually point to discipline as the answer. Some even react strongly against motivation, calling it a hoax.

But today, I know there are better answers.

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Why Advice Alone Isn’t Enough

Have you ever noticed how good advice rarely changes people? At best, it sparks reflection, but it’s the plan that follows, deliberate steps put into action, that truly shapes outcomes. The challenge is that most of us spend our days on autopilot, leaving little space for intentional planning. Let’s explore why, and more importantly, how to break free.

The Trap of Autopilot Living

We live mostly in reactive mode, and for understandable reasons. There’s always something happening. Social media, for instance, pulls us in with endless scrolling, fueling distraction. After a barrage of demands at work, we seek relief online, only to find ourselves trapped in a dopamine loop, like a mouse endlessly searching for food.

Responsibilities only add to this pressure. Routine but necessary tasks pile up: hospital visits, grocery shopping, showering, eating, paying bills, answering messages, driving somewhere, and more. Together with distractions, they consume much of our time and energy and keep us in autopilot.

Why Advice Doesn’t Stick

In that state, we may hear advice and even feel inspired, but nothing sticks. Advice alone doesn’t transform us. We stumble because we aren’t making the right changes at the right time, at the right pace. Instead, we burn through our reserves until they’re gone, using what we know and how we operate until it no longer works for us. Mistakes accumulate since we keep falling back to our old habits, both at work and in our personal lives.

The Power of a Plan

Growth requires a deliberate plan. That’s why schools follow curriculums, universities build programs, and companies create strategies. Plans bring structure to progress.

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AI is going to be used more, but precisely how much and with what impact is still unclear. Rather than predicting the unpredictable, let’s look at AI more rationally and holistically. For instance, some argue AI will eliminate jobs, while others see it as a catalyst for new opportunities. Which view holds true remains to be seen.

Beware of the Hype

Before we start, a word of warning: don’t cave in to the hype, and don’t listen to the millions of predictions. One of them might happen more likely than another, but that won’t make the person making the claim any smarter than the others—it’s just a variation in the dataset.

A Personal Experiment: bravekids.app

bravekids.app is an app I built with AI without a single line of manual coding. I was sitting next to my daughter, making up stories for her while she was falling asleep. The idea of putting together a website came to mind, and I developed and published the first version of bravekids.app in just a couple of hours. In fact, I finished most of it while waiting for my daughter to drift off. It has paying subscribers now.

Enterprise Software Is Different

I am not naive enough to think that enterprise software is the same as my hobby-level app. Enterprise challenges are different beasts. That’s why the primary help of AI is to accelerate delivery, not to replace everything. And if you believe in your company’s mission, you can use AI for your company, your team, and yourself to deliver faster, seizing opportunities earlier and more often.

AI and the Workforce

Everyone worries that AI is going to slow down hiring and gradually push people out of the workforce. But there is another possibility, which I believe is more likely to happen.

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Tight deadlines, sudden changes of plan, new demands, more problems, more decisions--and now your blood is boiling again. You’re getting angry, irritated, and frustrated. You thought you finally found some time to do something you love and enjoy. You were fine in the morning. Of course, you had to wake up early to drive your kids to school. Last night wasn’t particularly joyful either. You managed to watch a movie, but you slept a little too late because of it. That’s the only time you really get for yourself after all the day’s duties. Now you feel like you’re in survival mode, and on top of that, there’s little appreciation for your contributions at both work and home. Sure, you love your family, and they love you back. You’re the greatest parent, spouse, partner. But still… we’re not always rational, and elevated emotions make us say and think things we would never consider on a normal, peaceful day.

If you are that person, then read on.

You’ve probably guessed by now--I’m no different. From the way I described it above, you might have thought, “Wow, this guy gets it! He understands.” And yes, I do. But here’s the truth: it’s not that I’m just like you--you are like millions of us who go through these challenges every single day. The difference? Right now, you’re simply reading a story that makes you realize you’re not alone. Welcome to the team.

I’m no doctor, and I won’t give you medical advice. I’ll only share what many of us do to manage without resorting to heavy medications. And I don’t believe everyone needs prescription drugs to calm down. Often, lifestyle changes help. And for some, simple aids like supplements can play a role--but they’re just one option among many, not a one-size-fits-all fix.

Here’s how the cycle usually unfolds when the day gets worse:

1. Trigger (internal or external)

2. Symptoms rise (irritation, tension, rumination)

3. Escalation (anger, emotional memories surface, hot-blooded state)

4. Crisis point (hasty thoughts and risky decisions)

5. Disengagement / Reset (break, sleep, change of environment)

6. Recovery (calm returns, perspective restored)

Let’s dive into each step.

Triggers

The fun part. I break them into two categories: external and internal.

External triggers are things like something your manager, friend, or even a stranger says to you. They could also be unexpected changes of plan, extra decisions stacked on top of your day, tight deadlines suddenly handed over, or being questioned yet again. Some are obvious. Others might seem irrational to outsiders--but they’re real to you.

Internal triggers are cooked up in your own head. Built-up anger, unresolved family drama, letting problems define your self-worth, self-pity, imposter syndrome, old memories surfacing… these are harder to predict and even harder to escape.

Okay, now you know what a trigger is.

Symptoms Rise

Here it comes--the anger, the frustration. You’re overwhelmed again. Your blood is boiling. At this stage, you might feel betrayed. Past memories begin surfacing slowly. Things aren’t bad yet--you’re still managing. But after several more triggers, you’ll enter a different territory.

Escalation

Now things are worse. You’re visibly angry. You keep it under control to some extent, but when you see someone close, you want to unload. You start talking about how things aren’t going well again. Memories of similar past frustrations resurface. You feel betrayed, blindsided, disappointed. You had plans you looked forward to today, but now they’re pushed off--maybe forever. You swing between blaming yourself and blaming others.

Crisis Point

Not everyone reaches this stage every time--but it exists. This is where hearts break and bridges burn. You may lash out at the people you shouldn’t: your family, your closest friends, the ones who love you and want to help. If you believe in God, this is the stage where you may even feel let down, wondering why your prayers for relief have gone unanswered.

Disengagement

Here, the anger starts to fade. You calm down. Some people feel exhausted and take a nap. Others just sleep it off overnight and wake up calmer, as if nothing happened. Some go for a drive, take a walk, or lie down to think. During this reflection, you may begin to see how irrational your reactions were. Clarity grows, and with it, calmness.

Recovery

You’re back. Maybe a little ashamed, though still partly justified. That’s okay--it happens. You’re back to baseline until the next cycle begins. For some, the cycle returns in days or weeks. For others, it’s back the very next day--which is toughest, especially if you’re already sensitive and your environment is full of fresh triggers.

Here’s the tricky part: memory distorts reality. Something that happened once or twice begins to feel like it happens constantly. Your brain digs up every remotely similar memory until it convinces you that this is your permanent state.

Answer?

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Let me share a secret with you that not many people talk about. For many, this will define their career’s future.

You’ve been growing in your career, and without realizing it, the growth eventually starts to slow down and even halt. Why?

Let’s take a step back and look at the definition of two very important words that explain the “why”: Explanation vs. Argument.

In a business setting, explanation is simply revealing what’s in your mind. It is about what you think. Argument, on the other hand, is about changing what other people think. This crucial difference is where many people lose big time.

There are many reasons for this. Some cultures frown upon confrontation. Some cultures are more leader-oriented. Depending on your background, some people are more rule-followers than rule-changers.

Regardless of the reasons, which are ultimately meaningless for results, what matters is not “why,” but “what now.”

Examples

Example of explanation:

“The service is working this way, and it hasn’t been performing well. I don’t like this service either. It has been hard to maintain.”

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Introduction

Recently, I stumbled upon a video interview with Sam Altman discussing the importance of writing for thinking and its contribution to his success as CEO at OpenAI. He also mentioned the document-heavy culture at OpenAI. This reminded me of how much of my own success and growth I owe to my personal culture of writing. In this post, I’ll share my proven methods for using writing to create a more fulfilling life and career.

Writing Is for Thinking, Not Just Recording

There are many resources that emphasize the importance of writing, and I will point you toward those. But here’s one thing I want to stress: writing is for thinking, not just for record-keeping. This is a point most people misunderstand. They think of writing primarily as a way to record. And yes, it works that way too. But writing can improve your quality of life far beyond simple record-keeping. In fact, many people I know never revisit their notes at all, which reduces even the record-keeping benefits of writing.

Writing Produces New Thoughts

Writing not only puts structure around your thoughts, it also produces new ones. Let me give you an example from my own career. As an engineering manager, I often helped my team solve problems even when I wasn’t the expert in that particular service or domain. In one instance, I joined a call during a service outage. I had joined late, and by the time I arrived, the VP of Engineering was saying there were no more ideas left for next steps. The entire team was stuck. I was still fairly new to the company, with limited knowledge of the services and their history.

Out of habit, I opened a blank Word document, shared my screen, and asked the team to tell me the problem statement, symptoms, hypotheses, and attempted fixes. As they explained, I typed everything into the document. Something surprising happened: as the words appeared on the screen, the team began generating new ideas. Within minutes, we had a list of next steps and people assigned to test them. The team was no longer blocked, and momentum returned almost instantly.

This is just one of many times I’ve seen writing unlock clarity and creativity. It wasn’t my domain expertise that made the difference, it was simply creating structure around collective thoughts.

Writing as a Tool for Sanity

Of course, I benefitted personally from this practice as well. I believe writing is one of the ways I’ve kept my sanity in the chaotic, fast-paced world of corporate life. Many times, I’ve noticed my stress comes from my brain trying to juggle too many thoughts, forgetting and rebuilding structures over and over again. Most of the energy gets wasted on mental “plumbing,” keeping track of context and fitting new ideas into an ever-shifting framework.

This isn’t a sustainable way to live. My brain should focus on creating new thoughts and making decisions, not obsessing over structure. That’s where writing comes in. Write it down. Use arrows. Connect the dots. Add context. Build relationships. As you map out your thoughts on paper, your mind sees gaps, contradictions, and new possibilities. That’s what it’s designed to do.

I want to clarify one thing, though. When I say writing, I’m not only talking about long documents. I also mean drafting quick thoughts on a piece of paper or in a small notebook. In fact, I do this much more often than writing long documents. I always keep a small notebook with me, sometimes in my pocket, and even place sticky notes next to my laptop’s trackpad so I can quickly capture and analyze my thoughts on paper. For example, if someone asks me whether we should deploy a build today or tomorrow, and I have several concerns about each option, I jot them down immediately. Seeing them written out helps me analyze the situation clearly, and often I discover a simpler solution than the one that first came to mind.

Practical Ways Writing Helps in Corporate Life

With the fundamentals covered, let’s look at practical ways writing can help you succeed in corporate life beyond the obvious cognitive benefits.

1. Track Your Big Accomplishments

Use writing to capture your weekly accomplishments and present them quickly in 1:1s with your manager. I cannot express the power of this technique enough. I have done it for many years. It first allowed me to reflect on my accomplishments, and it is a very confidence-boosting activity that only takes 30 minutes or less in a week. It also lets your manager see your accomplishments throughout the week. It is different from stand-ups, you can be more liberal in what you include. Finished a job-related book? Add it. Attended a conference? Check. Helped unblock teammates? Check. I even added some of my LinkedIn posts and the engagement they got, which boosted my image as someone who can influence people beyond my team or company, even in the industry. Never underestimate these small things. And of course, talk about your weekly accomplishments as a team member.

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Why books miss this point

In my own career, I’ve seen firsthand how the advice in leadership books sometimes falls short, which is why I began noticing a different pattern.

I’ve read a lot in my own career, especially during my management journey. I’ve benefitted immensely from those materials. But over time, those lessons helped me less and less. Eventually, I saw what separates successful managers from struggling ones. As the books suggested, inspiring teams, candid feedback, etc. are all useful advice, but their definition of leadership cornered managers into taking on more burden and becoming sandwiched between upper leadership and their teams. That is the highway to mental struggles.

Before I get to the actual point, let me explain why the books don’t mention what I share here. The reason lies in who wrote them:

1. Managers who were promoted many times and built successful careers. They practice what I’m about to describe almost unconsciously, so they attribute their success to other factors.

2. Research groups who observe successful managers from the outside but don’t fully grasp the everyday struggles of the role.

The strongest tool: communication

Managers rely on many tools, technical expertise to solve problems, decision-making to set direction, and emotional intelligence to guide people. All of these matter. But none of them work without effective communication. Words are the medium through which technical insights are shared, decisions are explained, and emotions are conveyed.

Now let’s get to the actual point. What’s the strongest tool of a manager? Their technical knowledge, their smile, etc...? No. Their communication and words are the strongest tools they have. Communication signals confidence, clarity, and most importantly—sanity. Let’s focus on the sanity part.

Internalizing vs. Externalizing

Struggling managers tend to use internalizing language. Instead of focusing on the external problem, they focus on how the problem makes them appear to their managers, peers, and teams. It’s easy to detect this in their language. For instance, when they share an update, you hear them starting with “I” or “We.” They inject themselves in the first sentence. They talk more about themselves than the problem. Problems become threats to their identity. Internalizing is often the first response because it feels safer: by centering themselves in the update, managers try to signal control and responsibility. But this instinct backfires, making them look less confident and more burdened.

But don’t get me wrong, it’s not about ego. Sure, some display egoistic behaviors. But most managers suffer from this because of the leadership definitions they are bombarded with every day. As leaders, they are often told, or at least implicitly expected, to inspire people, steer all problems, and act as the source of all knowledge. How can something happen and they don’t know the full details? These implicit and explicit expectations fuel their suffering. They force managers to manage their image, signaling that they must appear present in every part of the problem. This is why their updates so often begin with “I”, as if proving they are personally on top of everything. For example, instead of saying, “The system crashed overnight and the team is running diagnostics,” they might say, “I am looking into why the system crashed overnight.”

And the more successful and sane ones? They keep the problem outside and solve it there. For them, problems are just life events, as Eckhart Tolle would call them. They don’t make problems part of their identity. Many use externalizing language unknowingly, often because they naturally focus on systems and facts rather than on self-image. For them, it’s simply how they process information, but it ends up projecting confidence and composure. One simple way to detect this in their language is that when they speak about a problem, they start with the system itself. Let’s do a comparison with a few different scenarios:

• Bug investigation

  • Internalizing manager: “I don’t have much information as the logs didn’t show us anything, and I am talking to the engineer to dig deeper...”

  • Externalizing manager: “The logs didn’t yield enough visibility right now, and Michael on my team is taking a deeper look into them. I am in touch with him and will let you know about the latest status.”

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Walking through Santa Monica recently, I was struck by the sheer number of Waymo's autonomous vehicles cruising the streets. It felt like the future had already arrived. But what struck me even more wasn't just the presence of these cars—it was the ripple effects they’re beginning to create. With every major shift, t…

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In professional life, imagination is treated like a luxury. It’s what creatives use, not analysts. It’s what children play with, not adults making decisions.

But then, how do we explain that some of the most precise thinkers—scientists, sages, philosophers—regularly speak of mental models, analogies, parables, visualiza…

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Why do people fail to change, even when the path is pointed out to them?

It’s not ignorance. It’s not arrogance.

It’s a missing bridge between knowing and doing.

Feedback without a behavioral plan is like a compass without a map. Direction without terrain. And yet, we act surprised when the person doesn’t move.

We say, “They didn’t listen.”

Maybe they did. They just didn’t know how to walk the path.

Let’s take an example. You tell your engineer: “You need to speak up more in meetings.” They nod. They even agree. A month later? Same silence.

Did they ignore you? Or did they simply not know when to speak, what to say, or how much is too much?

You gave them a diagnosis. But no treatment plan.

This happens at every level. You get told, “Be more strategic.” You nod. You mean it. And yet, your day still fills up with tactical tasks. Jira tickets. Design docs. Little to no strategy.

The feedback was received. But it was never embodied.

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You’re in the middle of writing a document. It’s quiet—no alerts, no meetings. But your hand moves almost involuntarily to your mouse. Slack. Teams. Email. Maybe someone messaged. You just checked, but... what if?

Later that evening, you’re technically off work, but not really. Your body’s home, but your mind is replaying…

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You don’t need more effort—you need clarity on what your work is actually moving toward.

In Part 1, we talked about systems as dynamic structures: flows, buffers, feedback loops—the underlying architecture that explains why things behave the way they do at work. But there's a deeper layer, often invisible and unspoken, that drives all of it: the goal of the system.

As Donella Meadows wrote, the goal is one of the most powerful leverage points in any system. It shapes how feedback loops operate, what flows get prioritized, and which parts of the system grow or decay. Without understanding the goal, everything else is surface noise.

But here's the problem: goals aren't always visible. In fact, in many real-world systems—especially in teams and organizations—they're often obscured or assumed.

Let’s take an example.

Imagine a school system. On paper, its goal is to "educate and empower students."

But look at what it consistently produces: standardized test scores, compliance with rules, a conveyor belt of curriculum pacing.

A teacher who takes time to mentor a struggling student might be seen as falling behind. A creative lesson that doesn’t align with test prep might be quietly discouraged.

Over time, the teachers who thrive are the ones who optimize for test performance—not necessarily deep learning.

So what’s the real goal? Not empowerment. Not curiosity. The system has come to optimize for scores.

And that changes everything.

The same principle applies at work.

What is a goal, really?

A goal isn’t a slogan. It’s not what the slide deck says. And it’s not whatever the team declared in last quarter’s OKR planning.

A system’s true goal is what it consistently produces. It’s the pattern of behavior over time. It’s what survives across leadership changes, reorgs, and new strategies.

If a team says their goal is "delighting users" but consistently ships rushed features to meet quarterly targets, then the real goal is speed, not user delight.

Meadows puts it simply:

“If the behavior of the system reveals a different goal than the one you proclaim, then the system has a different goal.”

So how do you identify the real goal?

• Watch what gets rewarded.

• Look at what survives pressure and conflict.

• See where the system directs energy when tradeoffs appear.

• Ask: what gets protected at all costs?

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