I Quit. (12)
I Quit
Great post from http://dariusforoux.com/i-quit/
I quit.
"That’s what I think three or four times a month.
To be honest, the thought of quitting whatever I’m doing in my life has been on my mind as long as I remember. When I was in high school, I wanted to quit and just find a job. When I played basketball, I wanted to quit.
When I started a business, I wanted to quit and get a job. When I got a job, I wanted to quit and get back to my business.
I can go on and on until I reach the present. I know, it sounds like an existential crisis that people in the first world only have. But that’s not what’s going on.
You’ll never find me crying about stuff like missing out on parties, not being able to get my hands on a ‘one-of-a-kind’ t-shirt (you hype beasts out there), or a dead battery.
But no matter how much I love what I do, the thoughts of quitting and just walking away show up in my mind every time things get hard. And in the past, those thoughts cost me many nights of sleep.
About two years ago I had enough. I wanted to quit thinking.
So I started becoming aware of my thoughts instead of always acting on every single thought I had.
“You don’t control me,” I would say to myself like a weirdo. But it works. I’m much calmer, patient, and happier because of it. However, when I want to quit, I still listen to it because sometimes it is a sign.
But more often, it’s just fear. And I refuse to surrender to it. And so should you.
Don’t Quit When It Gets Hard
I’m all about quitting things that are not worth it. Sometimes, you’re doing things that don’t contribute anything to your life. For example, I’ve left jobs, clients, and even friends in the past.
However, I’m firmly against quitting when things get hard. And unfortunately, that’s exactly the reason most of us quit.
Look, achieving goals never happens in a linear way.
We believe there’s a straight line from where you are to where you want to be. Let’s say your goal is to start a business so you can have more freedom in your life. That was my goal since I was 17.
I still remember how I came up with that goal. I started working several jobs since I was 15. I worked in kitchens, stores, and call centers. And I quickly realized, there’s only one person who benefits from all this: The one at the top.
So from an early age, I set my mind to working for myself. I thought I could just start working for myself from the beginning.
But that’s not how it worked out for me. I had to take a lot of detours. I worked for many other people in between. I also started businesses that failed. And I’m still no way near where I want to be.
But understanding that life is not linear helps us to change the way we think.
It took me years to figure out how you can work for yourself successfully. Along the way, I’ve thought about quitting many times.
Now, I realize that’s a good thing. If you never feel like quitting, that means life is too easy, and you need to take action in your life.
Everybody plays tough and pretends they can easily handle life. I don’t believe that. No one knows what they’re doing. Some people are just better at dealing with their fear than others.
Because when you get over your fear, good things happen. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can say to make things easier for you. Life is not easy. No matter what you do, it’s time to stop watching Netflix every night and browsing webshops for the newest clothes.
Don’t put your life off. It takes a while to figure things out. But that doesn’t mean you should quit. I’ve learned that if you haven’t reached your goals yet, or haven’t found a way to be successful, it doesn’t mean you’re a loser.
It means you haven’t found out how to win yet. If you keep going, you will find out.
But if you quit, you won’t. So don’t."
Darius is sharp guy! Nice article!
i quit. all the time.
i quit wasting time on anything but my strengths.
the strengths however are principles based.
Quitting is pretty simple, one just wasted a good part of their lives and rather than achieving anything, lost on something else too.
I believe it's pretty hard to succeed without getting out of the comfort zone.
Great article and motivation for the day.
Quitting is easy but if one is persistent enough to stay, they can surely get something out of it.
Quitting isn't always easy.
If you say it is, you never quitted on something that you invested a lot in. That you were totally committed to. Worked your ass off for.,
There are sunk cost - financially and emotionally.
Quitting sometimes is the hard choice, not the easy one.
I don't even believe quitting comes from fear of things getting hard.
It's not about fear of hard things. The hard thing is committing to something where the outcome is unknown.
It's easier to do hard things than it is to constantly deal with uncertainty.
Which is why it's easier to not give up on something OK than it is to give up and go for the unknown.
Take the article for what it is, a motivational speech. Nothing more than that.
Originally Posted by pekadis
You've got to be strong enough to quit too! Very often people stay in the comfort zone not noticing that the business is stuck and they can't give it anything more..
Everything has it's end, and I think it's more difficult to admit that it's time to leave this, rather than continue fighting. Depends on people though..
Have seen some of these desperate guys on "Shark tank" that just can't stop investing into something that doesn't work, loosing their life savings and even real estate properties.
Still, thanks for sharing cmdeal, this is a good read
I love this post...so authentic.
I like what you said here, this is so true... "So I started becoming aware of my thoughts instead of always acting on every single thought I had. “You don’t control me,” I would say to myself like a weirdo. But it works."
It reminds me couple of books that I read about the balance between our mind to our heart / our thoughts to our emotions and achieving real control on both of these elements along with regaining control on our inner self. The Author is Nissim Amon (Zen Master) and the name of the books are "The Secret To Inner Happiness" / "Eastern Wisdom". The author also developed a therapy method called "Trilotherapy".
Both books are extremely recommended and helped me a lot along the way. enjoy guys!
http://trilotherapy.com/en/welocme/
http://trilotherapy.com/en/about/
There are basically two mistakes you can make when it comes to quitting.
Quitting too soon.
Not quitting soon enough.
Figuring out which one you're in danger of doing is the tricky bit
Having said that, I agree that quitting when you hit what Seth Godin calls "The Dip" is usually a bad plan. You want to be at least fairly sure that it's a downward staircase, not a dip
Love the article and the comments. and Thanks Olavivo - going to try one of those books.
Feeling suddenly refreshed
Great posts. I like the saying - You can always quit so why do it now?
My opinion of quitting is very simple:
If you are doing something you learn from every day - don't quit
If you are doing something you do not learn anything from - quit
Money and frustration should not be part of the equation
- If you are doing something that isn't making you any money at the moment, but you are learning something every day - it will give you experience, which is invaluable. And naturally money will come one day.
- If you are frustrated, but you are still learning something every day - the learning outweighs the frustration easily.
On the other hand:
- If you are making good money but not learning anything new, what's the point? Will you be able to replicate these profits?
- If you are frustrated, and not learning anything new? You are doing something completely wrong, and you should change it ASAP
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