Quit for Success
Researchers Rom Y. Schrift, from the Wharton Business School, and Jeffrey R. Parker, at Georgia State University, found that we are actually more motivated to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle if we know we can quit.
In several experiments, participants who knew they could quit a designated task, like solving a word puzzle, tended to persist longer. One way to motivate people then, might be to toss out a reminder that they can quit at any time.
Yet it could be that people persist longer because they don't want to be labeled a quitter. In Western culture there is a stigma that comes with quitting.
Quitting as a Success Strategy
Perserverance is a prized quality in this culture and it's an aspect of grit and resilience which contributes to our ability to manage the tough stuff and develop greater well-being in our lives. But, if we are perservering at the wrong things—the unachievable goal, the insurmountable obstacle, the goal that we no longer care about—our perserverance can actually inflame our stress and chip away at our health.
In this case, research by Gregory Miller at the University of British Columbia shows that quitting one goal to start on another might be the smartest success-building strategy. When we stop investing time and energy in that one thing we're never going to accomplish, we have more to give to the thing that matters, the thing we can achieve. The goal that can make a difference and add meaning to our lives.
Once you quit whatever is draining you, you are then free to channel your abilities and talents into something you are passionate about. It doesn't mean the road will be easy—there are obstacles en route to any achievement. But, if the obstacles are surmountable, you'll persist in a healthy way and that leads to greater success.
How to Quit
It doesn't mean it's easy to quit, to give up on your life's plan, but don't walk away simply to assume a life loafing on the couch either.
When you do recognize that the thing you've been after all these years isn't going to happen, it's time to disengage and pick a new pursuit.
Here's how to do it:
1. Identify the aspects of the initial goal that excited or inspired you. What was it about that goal that got you moving in the first place?
2. Consider other goals or activities that also require some of those skills and qualities.
3. Develop a new goal, one that aligns with your values, desires, passions. One that adds meaning to your life.
4. Quit the first goal. Disengage. Write about the end in your journal. Or write the reasons you are giving up on this goal on a sheet of paper and burn it in a fire as a symbolic way of letting go. Mourn the end. Identify too, the positive outcomes, the things you learned along the way. Celebrate those things. What you learned will carry over into your next pursuit. This was not wasted time.
5. Write down your new goal and get going. Today, develop a plan for achieving your new goal and take one step toward it.
It isn't easy to give up on anything. But when you replace the ongoing stress and frustration of one goal with another goal that excites, inspires, and motivates, perseverance takes on new power. Then quitting becomes not an end, but the beginning of a whole new experience.
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