Don’t Quit

It’s strange to admit, but over the last few months, I’ve thought about quitting my work on TMC. A roadblock would appear, either technical or personal, and I’d wonder “is there a point to all of this?” It’s funny, when you’re in the thick of a project, nothing sounds more satisfying than hanging up the towel and stealing away to a dark, musty cave. Alas, knowing full well the results of quitting in the past — and despite the pangs of self-doubt — I’ve forged ahead. Now, with my work on version three of the site nearing a close, I can say wholeheartedly that I’m glad I haven’t quit.

Quitting is easy. As soon as you decide to quit, you forfeit all responsibility. A weight is lifted from your shoulders. In some cases, quitting is perfectly acceptable, if not preferable. Speaking from experience, it may be wise to quit when you’re putting time into work that you don’t care about or chasing a dragon that doesn’t exist (an unprofitable idea). Unfortunately, most quitting isn’t supported by sound logic. It’s born out of fear, laziness, and contentment with the status quo. An unwillingness to put in the hard work necessary to get to the next plateau.

Not quitting is a skill. It takes practice. For each leap that you take — scale relative only to yourself — pay close attention to the _good_ that came from it. What did you learn? What didn’t you know before? As you progressively spend more time not quitting, you can see the things that help you and the things that hurt you. For me, one of the biggest aids has been to keep a private notebook. In it, I jot down what I’m learning at a high level. Ideas, quotes by people I look up to, and little reminders of what I was doing at that point in time. By being able to see where I came from, it’s far easier to understand how that led me to where I am and — hopefully — where I’m headed. Reflecting on this sort of stuff can really help to squash the desire to quit.

Something I like to ask myself when teetering on the ledge: “so what happens now?” It’s a simple question, but incredibly thought provoking. Whenever I ask it, my answer is pretty consistent. I know that I’ll go back to being frustrated, creatively unfulfilled, and longing to be like all of those people I look up to. Just reading that now scares me a bit. I really don’t want to go back to that. How can I avoid it? Don’t quit.

While I can sit here and wax poetic about not quitting, what I can’t do is speak to your circumstances. Everyone is different. Parents get sick, kids puke into your dresser, and that jerk next door can’t help but let his tacky Halloween decorations glow directly into your living room. C’est la vie. I’ve unfortunately had to deal with a lot of setbacks over the last decade. While they were far from fun — watching a grown man cry is about as fun as getting caught naked in a brush fire — what I promised myself is that I wouldn’t let these things stop me. No matter what, no matter who, I wouldn’t quit.

If you’re working on something, please take heed and stay the course. There’s no guarantee that what you’re after is on the other side of all your hard work, but that doesn’t mean the journey isn’t worth your efforts. We live in a world where it’s far easier to announce than it is to persevere. Saying “hey look at my new thing!” is fun, but eventually, you’ll look back and see nothing but a trail of false starts. The only way to avoid that is to not quit. To keep going. To push yourself beyond all reason.

Never quit. Always pursue what’s in your mind and your heart to the best of your abilities and resources. Life is far too short to not try. If you ever get scared or shit feels too heavy, I’m always just an email away. I’ve been in the trenches long enough to know that quitting sounds sublime when the world is weighing down on you. But, and I say this from a place deep in my heart: when you quit, you kill a part of that voice that brought you to where you are. That good one that made you rush home from work to put time into your project. The one that had you scribbling down ideas in a notebook in traffic. The one that will get you to all of the places you want to go if you just let it speak.

Listen close, it says “don’t quit, don’t quit.”