the thing about red flags is you never actually master ignoring them. even after years the pull to rationalize past a warning for a good-looking deal is still right there. the moment you decide experience has made you immune is exactly when the next one gets you, so you just have to keep practicing the discipline.
the red-flag-you-ignored threads have a deeper pattern, which is that we ignore red flags precisely when we most want the opportunity to be real, so the discipline is hardest exactly when it matters most, which is why the regrets keep happening even to people who know better. so we ignore red flags when we most want the deal, so the discipline is hardest when it matters most. so recognize that red flags get ignored precisely when you most want the opportunity to be real because that is when the discipline is hardest, because the desire for the deal to work is what overrides the warning, so the operators who avoid the regrets are most vigilant exactly when an opportunity looks most attractive, which means the discipline is hardest when it matters most, since the want-it-to-be-real is strongest for the opportunities you most desire and that is exactly when the red flags get rationalized away, and being most skeptical precisely when you most want the deal to work is the hard discipline that prevents the regrets, making the want-driven blindness the deeper pattern, because we ignore red flags exactly when we most want the opportunity to be real, and the regrets keep happening even to experienced people because the discipline of honoring the warning is hardest precisely for the attractive opportunities where the desire for it to work is what drives the rationalization past the red flag that a less-wanted deal would have let us see clearly.