Why am I so tired of planning for the worst in people?

You can write a contract that covers every betrayal before it happens. That skill is real. But it costs you something. You spend hours imagining the worst in people you may actually trust. Here is what's happening. You've let one task do two jobs. Drafting protects the team from bad outcomes. Trusting tells you who you're dealing with. These are different acts. One uses your mind to predict harm. The other uses your judgment to read character. You've been doing both at once, and it wears you down. You don't need to stop drafting carefully. You need to stop asking the draft to tell you whether someone is trustworthy. That's not its job. Decide what you believe about the people in the room — separately, out loud, with your team. Then write the agreement your actual risks require, not the one your worst imagination demands.