Quitting can be hard. I’m not talking about quitting smoking or some other addiction, although that’s no walk in the park either.
I’m talking about quitting something you’ve started, something that was once a part of a dream. This can be especially difficult for women who are over achievers, individuals who are used to hanging in when things get tough, who can will themselves through situations when most men would turn around and go home. Okay, I’m being a bit sexist here. The images and sounds of giving birth are still resonating, after delivering my youngest son over a dozen years ago.
It’s okay to quit for the right reason.
I have a colleague who is on the board of a non-profit. The non-profit has struggled to raise the funds to produce a boys’ leadership camp for the last two summers. She decided recently that she would not continue on the board, nor would she be the driving force to make the camp happen in 2008. She can see that the business model isn’t working, either in terms of sustainability or future growth.
Until the Conscious Living, Conscious Leaving project recently brought on a marketing professional, I was prepared to quit. The project, while successful in producing remarkable content, was a failure in getting the content distributed to a wide audience. I knew that without a cohesive marketing strategy, the best efforts of our production team would reach only a limited few. I struggled with whether transforming a few lives was worth it. What I concluded is that I want breadth and depth, not just depth.
In 2008, I will quit my current business, in favor of two new ones that embrace a bigger dream, a bigger vision. I’m driven towards building businesses that leverage all of me and outlive me, where I am the seed of a larger change that can only be achieved by engaging others to join me.
Sometimes, we keep going with an effort, waiting for the data to come in to validate our actions. In truth, our gut knows much earlier what our mind tries to justify. Quitting for the right reason takes courage and commitment. It honors our inner knowing of where we can best serve.
Quit what’s barely working or even working reasonably well for something that has greater impact and sustainability. That’s quitting for the right reason.
Happy New Year. Decide what you will quit in 2008.
"No matter how far down the wrong road you’ve gone, turn back." –Turkish proverb
Thank you for repeating this important point – you do not have to continue in everything, and quitting for good reasons can be the best thing to do. One of the worst lessons our parents’ generation taught (many) of us is that “winners don’t quit” “this family does not quit” etc – some things should be quit in favor of better uses of time. How else do we make progress?
Thanks, MJ, for pointing out that our socialization around quitting can be generational. Our parents’ generation was also one that stayed with job for decades, with the expectation of a pension and retirement at 65. All of that has changed. More than ever, it pays to follow your own internal measure of success.