Should people finish what they have started even when it no longer seems worthwhile?
In 2020 Hank advised finishing what you start when an end is in sight; by 2024 he said he would stop once he no longer wanted to and would drop dreams that cause problems. John said in 2024 that the ideal is to complete the Vlogbrothers project, and in 2025 that he hopes to retire someday.
Axis: keep going to the end, especially when an end date is in sight / quit once it no longer seems worthwhile
Positions by date: 5 records in 5 videos. The position was refined (2024), never reversed, in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-01-30 | first on record | John is not convinced death is Vlogbrothers' ideal ending; the ideal is that, like Tom Scott, they complete the project, though he doesn't know what completion looks like. | How Vlogbrothers Will End 00:02:54 |
| 2025-10-03 | restate | John doesn't see YouTube as a career for his older self: he would like to retire someday, at least to being just a writer again, but doesn't know when. | Is It Time to Retire? 00:02:22 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-08-14 | first on record | Hank's answer to what to do: just keep going until you're done, as long as there's an end date in sight, even if it makes no sense; you never know what you'll learn or see, and at least you'll have done it. | Hit The Ground Running 00:02:32 |
| 2024-01-26 | refine | The description says Hank wants to keep doing this, but not after he stops wanting to. | On YouTuber Retirement video description |
| 2024-10-02 | refine | Hank thinks dreams are a tool to be abandoned the moment they start causing problems, and says he no longer has any loyalty to his dreams. | What I learned from the weirdest day of my life 00:02:55 |