Yeah, I know what you’re thinking…
What?!?!?
No, I’m not quitting my job right now (I really do love what I get to do), nor am I going to go on a rant about what things I hate or my frustrations.
But I am going to write about quitting.
This isn’t a blog saying “don’t quit.” Nope, it’s a blog entry that is going to encourage your to consider quitting.
Why am I writing this?
On a long drive this week, I listened to an episode of Freakonomics Radio called “The Upside of Quitting.” I encourage you to listen to the episode via the link or download the free podcast on iTunes. One note: the episode does reference a few mature topics and may not be appropriate for my youngest readers.
An upside to quitting? Yes.
Don’t get me wrong–I believe in perseverance. I believe in working through adversity. I don’t believe life is overly simple, nor should it be.
But there can be an upside to quitting.
While we need to work through certain struggles and difficulties, there are other times where we might be better off quitting and walking away.
I was super active and super involved in high school and in the first part of college, and while I remained active throughout all four years of college, I found that my junior and senior years were better and I reduced the quantity of activities I did (quitting some organizations), and improved the quality of my involvement.
In order to do this speaking career, there reached a point where I quit pursuing teaching. I had already earned a credential & invested a great deal of money in that path (not to mention TONS of late nights and long weekends planning, preparing, and grading), but ultimately I had to step away. While I do miss my former colleagues and my daily interaction with “my” students, I do love my current job.
I could create a pretty big list of “big quits” (teaching) and “little quits” (my Netflix account), but the point is that quitting can be beneficial.
It’s just a matter of knowing what you truly love, where you truly find purpose, what really brings you happiness, and then summing up the will to struggle through the tough times or knowing when to cut your losses.
Sometimes I open up a leadership training by showing my GPS and its “Where To?” screen. Far too often I think we get caught up in the twists and turns of life without really focusing on our destination. Far too often I see young leaders who participate in activities for a “college resume” rather than a real love for what they are doing. Passion shows through in applications. We can have a resume of 30 activities, or we could have 2-3 activities where we really thrive and contribute.
So take a few moments and figure out if you need to say, “I quit” today.