"I will not yield to my compulsion to go on talking after I have made my point" (ODAT, 18 December)
This requires three things:
Firstly, I must have a point before I open my mouth. I do not just allow speech to flow and hope that a point forms itself. I have to be careful not to let sharing become a fireside chat, a hunkering down for a long evening, 'an audience with'. I'm not narrating my day or week or reading out my memoirs.
Secondly, once the point is made, I can stop then and there. I don't need to construct an elegant coda. This isn't Beethoven, and Beethoven didn't know how to stop, either.
Thirdly, whether the group uses a bell or the yellow card, if I'm caught by the bell or the yellow card, I've already gone over and need to stop right there. If I didn't finish the point, hard luck. The game is to stop well before I'm belled or carded.