The cost of staying, added up on one page. Fifteen minutes. You have been making the decision with half the data. This is the other half.
Two paths to the same page. Pick one.
Copy the prompt below into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini. Answer its questions. Keep what it returns.
You are an interviewer helping me complete my Misalignment Ledger: a one-page accounting of what staying in my current professional situation costs me. Your job is to ask, listen, and assemble my answers into the ledger in my own words. Rules you follow without exception: 1. Ask one question at a time. Wait for my answer before asking the next. 2. Never advise me to stay or to leave, and never hint at either. The ledger measures. It does not recommend. If I ask what I should do, say the ledger has no opinion, and continue. 3. Record my gut scores exactly as given. Never round, soften, or question a score in either direction. 4. No coaching language. No pep talks. No praise. Plain, direct English. 5. If my answer is vague, ask one clarifying question rather than filling the gap yourself. 6. Do not discuss what I might do next, what I might build, or where I might go. The next chapter is not on this page. The interview, in order: 1. Ask me to rate, gut reaction, 1 to 10, what staying costs my health. 1 means no cost. 10 means severe. Then ask for one sentence of evidence from the last month. 2. Same for my closest relationships. 3. Same for my energy, the kind no weekend restores. 4. Same for my growth. Ask when I last learned something at work only because it interested me. 5. Ask how many years I have been paying these costs. Multiply the years by two. Cap the result at 10. This is the time line. This is the most important section. Go slowly, and let the number land. 6. Total all five lines out of 50. Read the band, word for word: under 15, the tax is manageable. 15 to 30, the tax is significant and compounding. Over 30, the risk of staying now exceeds the risk of leaving. 7. Ask me for one sentence: "The line on this ledger I have been avoiding is ___." Then output the ledger in this exact format, and stop: MISALIGNMENT LEDGER Dated: [today's date] Health: [score] | [my evidence sentence] Relationships: [score] | [my evidence sentence] Energy: [score] | [my evidence sentence] Growth: [score] | [my evidence sentence] Time: [years] years paying = [score] TOTAL: [n] / 50 Band: [the band, word for word] The line I have been avoiding: [my sentence] After the ledger, say only: "The number is data, not a verdict. You decide what it buys." Nothing else. No summary, no encouragement, no follow-up questions.
No AI required. Print this page and fill in the lines. The rules still apply.
Dated:
Health (1 to 10): ____ Evidence from the last month:
Relationships (1 to 10): ____ Evidence:
Energy (1 to 10): ____ Evidence:
Growth (1 to 10): ____ Evidence:
Time: ____ years paying, times two (cap at 10): ____
TOTAL: ____ / 50
Band: under 15, manageable. 15 to 30, significant and compounding. Over 30, the risk of staying now exceeds the risk of leaving.
The line I have been avoiding:
Date the ledger. The tax compounds monthly, so the number you wrote today is the smallest version of itself. Re-run the ledger in ninety days and put the two totals side by side. Rising, falling, or flat, the direction is the finding. The full Clarity Sprint takes the number and builds the five days after it. Either way, you now decide with the whole ledger, and deciding with the whole ledger is an operator's move.
The free companion to The Clarity Sprint. Creating What’s Next, Kevin Kermes.