To Quit Or Not To Quit
April 2019
I confess, I am not an expert on quitting, letting go, or endings.
I think long and hard. I consider one more chance, and then another. I'm married more than five decades, owned and sold my business after 30 years, and still to this day, rally one more time before I consider quitting as an option.
Knowing when to quit sooner has been a life-long lesson for me. When I really reflect on those times when quitting or letting go was the right choice, I recognize all the tell-tale signals that I ignored along the way. The ending really should not have been a surprise.
Yet every time, when I finally let go, I feel this tremendous relief, a release, actually. It's a visceral feeling that I welcome after all the sleepless nights trying to find another way.
Why quitting is so hard:
- Sunk costs are real. Rather than cutting your losses, it's easier to keep investing in a project, idea, or employee because of the time and monies this has already cost you.
- Scarcity beliefs whisper to us "the next idea or employee might be worse." And, hanging out in the unknown, not knowing the next steps or what options to pursue can be truly frightening. We stay stuck in routine...because it's familiar.
- Society has programmed us to believe "quitters never prosper" and "winners don't quit." We've internalized these ideas and made them into core values. We don't even realize their impact on the decisions we make everyday in our business.
What can we do? For any real change to occur, the first step is AWARENESS. It begs you to question your limited beliefs and fears. Are these beliefs real? What would you do if you weren't afraid? Would you decide to continue down the current path...or let go?
Do you know how to quit gracefully?
- Take the time to have a tough conversation with your team, project manager...and yourself. Learn from the mistake. Recognize the signals along the way. As Maya Angelou often said: "When you know better, you do better."
- Motivate yourself. Bring good energy, a sound plan of action and the realization that quitting isn't an ending but a pathway to a new beginning with a lot of potential opportunity and growth.
- Always be honest and authentic, whatever that looks like in your quitting scenario. Maybe it's in your email to event attendees apologizing and refunding their ticket, maybe it's in your conversation with your employee showing her you care about her future. Maybe it's with yourself - compassionately letting go of a project you've been working on so hard for so long.
Are you facing a "quitting scenario" in your business or professional life?
If you are having trouble coming to terms with how to decide (to quit or not to quit) and are unsure of the best way to handle next steps, why not check out my 2 hour/1:1 Strategy Session? Having an Action Plan that moves you forward with grace, compassion, and ease is exactly what you need...and what I deliver!
Sign up for a 1:1/ 2 hour strategy session to get you clear, unstuck, and moving forward again!
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