“NEVER QUIT!” In SPORTS: Good Advice. In STARTUPS: Ruining Lives!
“NEVER QUIT!” = MINUTES for ATHLETES! But for Founders?! “NEVER” is YEARS or… F***ING FOREVER!!!
NEVER QUIT / NEVER GIVE UP…
IN SPORTS:
- Encouraging Athletes to Continue Max Effort
for the remaining - Seconds? Minutes? Hours?
- So, “NEVER” = a very SHORT, FINITE amount of TIME
- Opportunity Cost of NEVER = ~NOTHING!
[PLUS, in most cases they’re REQUIRED to be there anyway — so they can’t leave to do something else instead of playing the 9th inning or 4th quarter!] - So, OF COURSE, Athletes should NEVER quit or give up!
IN STARTUPS:
- Encouraging Founders to Continue Max Effort
for the remaining… - …Years? Decades? Lifetime?
- So, “NEVER” = an INFINITELY LONG amount of TIME!
- Opportunity Cost of “NEVER” = ~EVERYTHING!
- So, “Never Quit / Never Give Up” Dangerous / Detrimental / Destructive / DUMB ADVICE for Founders!
— [Editor’s Note: Better advice would be:
“Know WHEN to… [accept defeat? cut your losses? walk away & live to fight another day?]”
OR, if you don’t want to listen to us, listen to Kenny Rogers & The Gambler:
“You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em…
Know when to fold ‘em…
Know when to walk away…
And know when to run.”
We’ve used this (anti-)analogy elsewhere, but:
It’s like comparing Apples and Oranges…
No, wait. Actually, that’s not strong enough — because Apples and Oranges are at least relatively similar (size, shape, both fruits, etc.).
— Correction:
*It’s like comparing Apples and **ORANGUTANS!**
“NEVER QUIT” / “NEVER GIVE UP”
IN SPORTS / FOR ATHLETES:
(apples)
Losing a game? match? race? series?
“NEVER Give Up!” refers to — the final seconds? the final minutes? the final hour? (At MOST we’re probably talking about a few days — in a playoff series)… So there is practically NO RISK in “never” giving up in sports!
Therefore: GREAT MOTIVATIONAL ADVICE!
vs.
“NEVER QUIT” / “NEVER GIVE UP”
IN REAL LIFE?? / FOR ENTREPRENEURS??
(orangutans)
Continuing to Spend All Your Energy, All Your Time, All Your Money… The opportunity cost of “NEVER Give Up” is… is…F***ING EVERYTHING!!!
[And indiscriminately taking motivational advice from one environment (where “never” = minutes) and applying it to a monumentally different environment (where “never” = years, decades, or lifetimes!) is not only foolish, but it is irresponsible, dangerous, and contributing to a startup culture / entrepreneurial mindset that is destroying entrepreneurs’ lives — in some cases, literally!]
“YEAH, BUT… [insert 1-in-a-million success story here] risked it all and eventually became a huge success after years of hardship… So if they can do it, why can’t I?”
Our friend REALISTIC RICK
(from RealisticRick.com)
has a RESPONSE TO THAT:
