To Win More, Quit More
Misplaced resilience is more dangerous than just giving up.
I’ve been on a huge quitting kick recently. In the last few weeks alone, I’ve quit several crappy relationships, ditched some dead-end freelance clients, and more recently, I’ve been dabbling with the idea of quitting everything and moving away. No, seriously.
Not #vanlife, but more of a scenery change. A new environment, because I’m fed up with the one I’m currently stuck in. The thought of quitting it all is incredibly liberating.
It’s funny to me because when I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to just quit things. At the very least, I had to finish out the season of a sport I didn’t like before quitting or I had to struggle with my homework for what seemed like hours before I could ask for help. “Not giving up” was a trait that I was basically forced to develop.
These experiences with enforced resilience helped me build grit, but at the same time, they also taught me many other bad habits like people-pleasing, negative self-talk, and worst of all, an aversion to quitting. I’m working on overcoming those habits now.
Culturally, quitting is not tolerated. If you quit, that’s seen as a personal flaw or a sign of weakness. I mean, Elon Musk doesn’t quit, what gives you the right, right? Wrong.
