Why You Need To Consider Quitting
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I know, I know, quitting seems so anti-success.
But it’s not.
Think about it for a moment…we quit things all the time. When you were a young child you quit diapers for dry underwear and a potty. At some point either before, during or after high school, you probably quit playing sport you really enjoyed. And as an adult, you’ve quit many things you used to. So quitting isn’t bad.
And if you’re a business owner, quitting is as necessary for success as hard work, planning and your marketing message.
That’s why I’m such a fan of Seth Godin’s little book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches you When to Quit (and When to Stick).
In a single statement, concept of the Dip is “the long slog between starting and mastery. The Dip is difference between the easy beginner technique and the more useful expert approach to skiing. The Dip is the combination of bureaucracy and busywork you must deal with in order to get certified in scuba diving.” In essence, the Dip is where you find all the barriers that keep you from reaching your goal.
Yet it’s in the Dip that success happens. It’s where the proverbial rubber meets the road. It’s where you roll up your sleeves and sweat out the work it takes to be successful. The Dip creates a barrier that most people don’t cross.
What’s important to remember about the Dip is that it’s also where the most crucial decisions are made about your business. The effort, time and resources that are often required to climb out of the Dip need to be weighed carefully. Some Dips should be pushed through. But some should not. And the choice is yours, which is why it’s important to know when to quit (and when to stick).
From Seth’s own blog, here’s a seven reasons to consider quitting:
- You run out of time (and quit).
- You run out of money (and quit).
- You get scared (and quit).
- You’re not serious about it (and quit).
- You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
- You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
- You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).
None of these are poor reasons to quit. And truthfully, there’s no poor reasons to quit. If working through the Dip isn’t worth the effort or cost, you should quitting. While the other side of the Dip is being successful, it doesn’t mean that every Dip, hence every success, is worth the cost. One of the secrets of successful people is they know when to quit.
How about you, do you know when to quit? Or when to stick?
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Sparkplugging Founder Wendy Piersall is dang passionate about helping people start & grow a business while maintaining life balance (somehow). 
Easton Ellsworth is owner of 
Quitting isn’t always a bad thing.
Quitting allows you to focus on more important or profitable tasks.
Really, to paraphrase the old saying: There’s no reason to send good money and time after bad.
Steven Lohrenz’s last blog post..22 Effective Ways To Build Traffic
If stopping to do something is calculated or planned for a reason that is one thing. Many of the “reason to quit” listed above tend to become excuses or escapes (the easy way out). I still believe that if personally committed to a goal one will eventually achieve it. That is of course if the goal is within reason. If a business is not and will never make money it does not make (common) sense to continue.
ourmonmouth’s last blog post..Online Sales to Grow 17 Percent in ‘08
I agree – quitting is both an art and a science, and probably should be done more often in some circumstances.
At the same time, ‘knowing when to stick’ is its’ own challenge – a little less than a year ago I was wondering whether to quit or stick with this site. It was hard to stick with it at the time (mostly based on income), but obviously today I’m pretty dang glad I stuck it out.
If you wake up in the morning and you dread the work day – for a good solid month – then it’s time to quit as well.
I wouldnt ever quit anything, but I am all for phasing things out. If a better oppurtunity arises, build that business as you phase out the other if thats what you desire, but never quit outright.
“You know you love doing something when you can’t wait to go to sleep so you can wake up and do it again.” ~Ampersand
It took several failed attempts before finally finding the website idea that I know I’m sticking with. I felt badly each time I gave up on an idea, but I’m so glad now that I did.
In internet marketing many people start a new venture and quit too soon when they don´t see massive sales immediately.
Tom Lindstrom’s last blog post..eBay Business Opportunities
Great post Dawud. It is so true. There is a huge stigma around quitting but often you can look of it as just changing directions. We live long lives these days so changing course to do something that feels right for you is not a bad thing!
In the bootstrap group here, they call the Dip the Valley of Death and every biz goes through this valley and those who don’t ‘quit’ often climb out.
The word “quit” is usually taboo among entrepreneurs. I think a lot of times we quit too late because we refuse to admit to our critics that they were right. However, I must agree with ourmonmouth and say that although there are justifiable reasons for quitting, many of the reasons people choose to quit are just excuses.
Ben Jones’s last blog post..Why Negativity is Great for your Business
I’m amazed at the stigma around quitting. I don’t see it at all as a bad thing – and I was, for instance, a high profile athlete in my younger days where we never quit on anything.
But this is different. This isn’t about giving up. Rathe,r it’s about getting clear and being honest. Ultimately it’s about success. Every single person who’s been successful has done so by first quitting the things that were unsuccessful.
I try to remember that it’s not about quitting, really. Rather, it’s about being so clear about your business that you know where to put your energy, your time, your resources. The quitting part comes in from learning through the process.