Quitting

A friend recently asked me to check out a BLOG in Freakonomics on The Upside of Quitting .  As a blogger myself, I realize that the quality of what gets written, recorded and posted does not match the quantity.   To be more to the point, there is a lot of crap out there.

Maybe you will take a minute to scan or listen to the article, but I cannot recommend much investment in time.

Quitting is a subject that brings out great emotion in me.   A person of tremendous power in my youth, branded me a quitter and I have spent the last 45 years proving him wrong.   I believe Winston Churchill was right when gave his famously short commencement speech.  He got up and said, "Never, never, never give up!" and sat back down.

First, here is what, I think, quitting is and what it's not.   Quitting is not the same as stopping.  I routinely stop doing things.   I change directions.

Quitting has to do with bailing on a commitment.  To me, the most important commitments are to myself.   I literally make them to myself.  A commitment may also be made to others and while I worry about them, I NEVER want to let myself down.   If I can't trust me, how in the heck can anybody else trust me?

With this in mind, I am careful as to what I commit.  It is not always to 'win' or even finish.   An important thing is to know the exact commitment before I get into the journey.   Sometimes, I 'up' my aspirations during the journey but I do not let myself lower aspirations.

Here are a couple of examples:

My 31 year career -  During that long career, I went through about 4 or 5 periods when I reevaluated my options (including leaving), set new goals and committed to 'bring home the bacon'.   These periods of commitment tended to be about 5 years but the goals and milestones were what was important, not the time.   The last time I reviewed my options, I decided to stop working……….I really did not feel like I was quitting.   We had reached the goals I had set and I felt both I and the company would be better served if I moved on.

A bike race -  Seems easy, right….win!  It is not so easy.  This weekend, team goals superseded me winning and it was a two day effort.  First day goals:  Assist my team mates in winning and do whatever that took.  If I got so tired, I was 'off the back', pedal in without finishing.   Save my legs for day two.  If that happened, I would DNF (Did Not Finish).  Second day goals:  Help my team mates win in the 50+ bracket and if that could be accomplished, I could strive to win the 60+.   Never quit, never stop, never slow down until it is over…..no matter what.  I could rest Monday.

So, let me sum it up.  I make my commitments carefully.  Once made, I pedal the bike or pedal in life until I fall over in order to 'make good' these commitments.   I never quit, renegotiate, down grade, or give up.  I don't even think about quitting during the commitment, as that uses energy and causes self doubt.  To repeat a well known phrase:  Quitting is not an option.

The 'cool' question people ask these days is, "So, how's that working for ya?"   Answer, "Pretty darn good!"

See ya out there.