We don’t like quitters. At an early age we are taught to strive to do our best and finish what we started. Once we finish we move on to the next task. No one rewards the quitters in the world but should we?

Quitting because it’s too tough is something that I don’t do however quitting because there is a smarter better way to do something well that’s something I’d consider.

I just finished a half marathon this past weekend. It wasn’t my first and won’t be my last but I didn’t do as well as I wanted. I started out too fast and couldn’t keep up that pace and in the end I crashed and burned and missed my goal time by a lot.

After the race I was talking to a friend of mine and he said he just quits when he’s not going to meet his goal time. I was a little shocked by that statement. I’m not a quitter I always try to finish but it made think that in life that might not always be the best strategy.

 When to quit: 

• Sunk Cost– When you’ve invested so much that you can’t reap a reward on your investment. Sinking more and more money into a project isn’t necessarily going to get you more in return.
• When your goal is unreachable-This takes discipline and lot’s of thought and review. But at some point you may realize your goals was just to ambitious and instead of struggling down the road you are on I suggest you pause and reflect. Reassess the goal and if it’s something worth while to you then reformulate an approach that will allow you to achieve your goal.
• When the project has veered way off course – I know you want to finish it at this point. But is it still worth it? Stop at this point and assess the project and where you are and ask yourself  is it what you intended it to be?

• When the client has made unrealistic demands of you –Yes you can fire a client. However do it wisely as it can be complicated to do and could come back at you.

Quitting is not easy and will be difficult.

Quitting is not so bad when you can make a logical argument and conclude that it’s the only prudent step to take. It’s hard to do at first but it’s a skill that one needs to practice and develop. Retrain your brain to accept that quitting isn’t bad.

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