The opposite of quitting isn’t “waiting around”
No, the opposite of quitting is rededication. The opposite of quitting is an invigorated new strategy designed to break the problem apart.
Seth Godin discusses when to quit and when to stick, but first he takes some time to bash the poor reputation of quitting. We’ve some how come to equate blunt persistence with good character and quitting with failure. It’s good that we value hard work, but even better would be to value why we’re putting in that hard work at all.
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin
Quitting a job is not quitting your quest to make a living or a different or an impact. Quitting a job doesn’t have to mean giving up. A job is just a tactic, a way to get to what you really want.
The same is true for an organisation. You don’t define yourself by the tactics you use. Instead, your organisation succeeds or fails in its efforts to reach its big goals.
He goes on to encourage us to quit and find the thing where we are exceptional. As a jack of all trades myself, I feel cognitive dissonance whenever I come face to face with deep expertise. It’s something I’d want, but I don’t know in what field I’d want it in — and it seems pointless to go deep on whim. But his argument to quit when you’re only average sticks: “isn’t your time and your effort and your career and your reputation too valuable to squander on just being average?”
The next time you catch yourself being average when you feel like quitting, realise that you have only two good choices: quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers. Am I being too harsh? Isn’t your time and your effort and your career and your reputation too valuable to squander on just being average? Average feels safe, but it’s not. It’s invisible.
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin