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Ever struggle with the quit question? At what point in a project, work related or personal, does one call it quits? When is enough, enough?  Or is it worth just sticking with things that little bit longer as the tide might be about to turn and the breakthrough you’ve been waiting for could be just around the imaginary corner. It’s really difficult to tell.   Through coaching individuals and teams, in my own professional and personal life, and from direct primary research asking leaders this very question in podcast interviews, different perspectives and rules to help answer it have come up. Hopefully by sharing some of these, it might help you take a different view when have to face this head on, now or into the future.  

1. Pros & Cons – this is one of the most obvious but often not done. When at a cross in the road with whatever effort you’re facing, laying out the positives of continuing, potential benefits from doing so (think what additional learnings that are coming from just preserving with it), versus the downsides of keeping going(wasted time that could be spend on something else, draining mental and emotional energy, etc) can be a quick and powerful approach. Within minutes, one side might far outweigh the other making it obvious to

 

2. Be clear on your why – from a personal perspective, before starting out on the podcast project a few years back, during the planning stage, I spent time clearly outlining what I considered success looked like. I outlined 6 – 8 key realistic success factors (becoming famous and making a few million $/€ were not 2). This helped hugely as things developed. There were and are times when the question ‘is this all worth the effort and time’ comes up. My negative self-talk taking over. Thankfully, having crystal clarity on the reasons why helps keep that voice very quiet.

 

3. Where is the LOVE!! – This one is very fresh in my mind but really could be the most powerful question you have to ask yourself when struggling with this decision. In the episode of the podcast released just yesterday (Friday 13^th) with Maysoon Zayid, this exact question came up. Her answer was perfect. Maysoon had always dreamt of being an actor but was always getting passed over for roles she wanted. So, after a period of time, she realised that the love she for acting started to fade. This spelled out clearly to her it was time to find another dream! To do something different. She became a comedian. And that’s working out pretty good! So, if you don’t love what you’re doing anymore, it’s maybe the best indicator to quit.

Honestly, there are more that could be shared here but the clock beat me this morning. Hopefully these 3 give you something to think about. Don’t let stubbornness get in the way. It’s empowering to take control and quit. Hopefully this gives you something to thinking & feel about when faced with the quit question next time. Till tomorrow, thanks for reading. Rob

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