Is It Time To Quit?
We have all heard the advice not to give up, to persevere and keep trying until we succeed. But is that always a good idea?
“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” - Vince Lombardi
“Never, never, never give up!” - Winston Churchill
“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” - Albert Einstein
There are times when it makes sense to be persistent and continue working at something, and others when it is time to say, “Enough!” and throw in the towel.
Sometimes winners do quit, and sometimes quitting is the best way to win. The trick is knowing when to quit and when to keep working.
Whenever something is new, it’s usually very exciting. You’re excited and motivated and eager to make it work. After a while, though, it can get boring. And if the project is not as successful as you had hoped, it gets a lot harder to stay with it.
In his book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
You can teach yourself to identify the signs of a Dip or a Cul-de-Sac. Once you do, you will know if you should keep working at it or move on. Here are some tips to guide you.
How much time and effort have you invested? If you have barely started and have already lost your enthusiasm, this may not be something you should be doing. Quit. If you have been working at this project for a long time and have not seen any results, it may be time to stop. On the other hand, if you have been at it for a while, and you have had some success but not the BIG success, it could be worthwhile to keep going.
What is the potential upside? Assuming everything happens as you hope, will you get enough money, satisfaction and other rewards to make all the hard work worth it? If not, stop now.
Is this project disrupting your life? No matter what the potential rewards, if staying with something means losing your family or your health, is it really going to be worth it?
What are your options for exiting? You could just walk away, but there may be a way to recover some of the costs you have incurred. Could you hire someone or take on a partner to complete the project? If the project has the potential for success but your heart just isn’t in it, this may be a good option. Can you produce a scaled-down version of your original idea that would be successful? Or could you sell whatever you have produced so far to someone else? These solutions might make it easier to step away.
However, even if quitting means you get no direct benefit from the time and money you have invested, walking away may still be the best choice. Continuing to throw more time and money at a loser project could be preventing you from realizing success. Smart people know when to escape those dead ends and walk away.
Winners quit while they quitting is good. They quit when it makes sense to do so.
Quitting is not the end. Putting an end to a project that takes your time, money and energy with no return frees up those assets to be put to better use elsewhere. Look at quitting as a new beginning, and get on with what you need to do.
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