How Good Are You At Quitting?

Last weekend I read “The Dip” by Seth Godin. It’s a great little book about quitting. The general idea is that we probably don’t quit things often enough. (Or worse, quit the wrong things at just the wrong time.) Some things we hang on to too long, while we walk away from other things at just the wrong moment.

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of things in your world. Things that distract you from accomplishing what’s really important (or what you should & could be great at). And the things you should and could be great at. Get rid of the all the distracting, counterproductive junk in your life. Quit that stuff.

On the other hand there’s the important stuff, and all too often we quit that at just the wrong time; just when it starts getting harder (or a little less fun) than we expected. The really bad news is that if we had just pushed a little farther, a little harder; we would have hit oil…and ended up in a really good place. But we quit the wrong thing at the wrong time.

The advantage of becoming a better quitter is that most people quit the wrong things at the wrong time. It’s not just you and me. And if you figure out out how to gauge what to quit and when (and what not to quit and when), you’ll create a separation between you, your ideas, and your organization…and all the bad quitters who are jumping off when it gets harder (or a little less fun). They are also hanging on way to long to the stuff they should have quit. Either way you win.

It’s probably more art than science, but as always; practice makes perfect. So go work on being a better quitter.

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