Two Copies of the Same RoundYou've read the actual term sheet a dozen times: the valuation cut, the liquidation preference stacked against common stock, the board seat you gave up. Only one version sits in the shared folder your team can open, the summary that sounds survivable. You tell yourself the gap spares them from a math they can't act on anyway. Really it spares you from being the one who has to say the numbers out loud.
OLD SCRIPT DETECTED
“The real term sheet stays in my desk drawer, not the shared folder”
Try this response:
“The terms don't change because I finally show them to someone.”SEE THE PRACTICE
Build a response for this thought—and one move to prove it.
THE THOUGHT
“The real term sheet stays in my desk drawer, not the shared folder”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“The terms don't change because I finally show them to someone.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Take the signed term sheet out of your desk drawer, read it start to finish without changing anything, then put it back exactly where it was.
The Version That Never Reaches the Shared Folder
Why the Drawer Still Feels Safer Than the FolderNothing about this document has to be finished while it exists in one copy, in one drawer, read by one person. Move it into a shared space and it stops being a private worry and becomes something they now have to live inside. Keeping it out of the folder lets you keep treating the round as still open for revision, even on the nights it plainly isn't anymore.
The Ten-Minute ReconciliationPull the real term sheet out of the drawer and set it beside whatever summary lives in the shared folder. Don't rewrite either one. Read them side by side and note, specifically, which figures are missing from the version your team sees, not how you feel about it, just where the two documents diverge. That gap is information, not a decision you owe anyone today.
TRACE · 01/04
How this script runs you
- You update the shared folder's summary with rounded, softened numbers the same week the signed term sheet goes into your desk drawer.
- You've rehearsed how you'd explain the liquidation preference stack if someone asked, but no one asks because no one has seen it.
- You keep meaning to loop your co-founder in on the real terms and instead spend the meeting talking about runway in general strokes.
SOURCE_LOCATED · 02/04
The hidden rule underneath
The Sole Bearer
The rule underneath this thought is that the harsher version of the deal only becomes real once someone besides you can open it, so keeping the actual term sheet in a drawer instead of the shared folder lets you postpone the moment the decision stops being yours alone to revise.
FORGING_REPLACEMENT · 03/04
Replacement lines (record these)
- The terms don't change because I finally show them to someone.
- A folder they can open isn't the same as a decision I can't undo.
- I can file the real number and still choose when to explain it.
Generated per person in the app — these are the flavor, not your script. Yours is built from your exact words.
INSTALL · 04/04
The protocol, on one card
When I think
“The real term sheet stays in my desk drawer, not the shared folder”
I say
“The terms don't change because I finally show them to someone.”
Then I do one thing
Take the signed term sheet out of your desk drawer, read it start to finish without changing anything, then put it back exactly where it was.
STATUS: READY_TO_INSTALL
Wipe this thought4 minutes. Your voice. Free.
The wipe protocol
- Write the thought exactly as it plays: "The real term sheet stays in my desk drawer, not the shared folder". Word for word — the wipe targets the sentence, not the vibe.
- Trace the rule and the avoided action. What does this thought conveniently excuse you from doing?
- Record the replacement lines below in your own voice. Speak like you mean it — no recording, no install.
- Run the loop: play it every morning and night, log one proof action a day for 7 days.
Straight answers
What's the difference between keeping a draft private and keeping the signed term sheet out of the shared folder?
A draft is still being written. A signed term sheet is a finished document you're choosing not to file where your team can find it, so the difference is timing and access, not sensitivity of content.
Does moving the real term sheet into the shared folder mean I have to explain every clause the same day?
No. Where a document lives and when you discuss it are separate questions. You can file something accurately today and decide the timing of any conversation about it on a different day.
If the drawer version is worse, isn't keeping it out of the shared folder protecting my team from unnecessary worry?
It protects you from sitting with their reaction, which isn't the same as protecting them. They're already working inside terms they haven't been shown, whether the document is filed or not.
Related old scripts
Related self-checks
Related science
Researchers to explore
Related mechanisms
The research behind this script
- Cleaning Up the Big Muddy: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Determinants of Escalation of Commitment — Sleesman, Conlon, McNamara & Miles, Academy of Management Journal, 2012
- The Pivot: How Founders Respond to Feedback through Idea and Identity Work — Grimes, Academy of Management Journal, 2018
- The Recovery Experience Questionnaire — Sonnentag & Fritz, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2007