{"id":341,"date":"2012-10-18T04:22:26","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T04:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/?p=341"},"modified":"2018-12-06T08:30:26","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T15:30:26","slug":"when-do-you-quit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/when-do-you-quit\/","title":{"rendered":"when do you quit?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the <em><strong>first stage of instigating<\/strong><\/em>, life takes it easy on you.<a href=\"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/when-do-you-quit\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-364 alignright\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"when do you quit?\" src=\"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/question.png\" alt=\"-\" width=\"209\" height=\"259\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the beginning, you have<strong> beginners luck<\/strong> on your side.<\/p>\n<p>You get lucky by running into someone who wants to promote your product, or a clever blog post you write takes off, or you add 50lbs to your bench-press in the first month back at the gym.<\/p>\n<p>You can do no wrong, and the constant positive feedback from friends and family energizes you and makes <a title=\"do the work (what Steven Pressfield can teach us about being remarkable)\" href=\"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/do-the-work\/\" target=\"_blank\">doing the work<\/a> easy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Until...<\/strong>the next product run\u00a0<strong>doesn't\u00a0sell<\/strong>, or the next 100 blog posts go <strong>nowhere<\/strong>, or you <strong>plateau<\/strong> at that first month\u2019s bench-press weight for the next 6 months.<\/p>\n<p>In the <em><strong>second stage of instigating<\/strong><\/em>, the reality of the path you're on becomes clear.<strong> During the second stage of instigating, life will throw everything it\u2019s got at you to get you to <em>fold<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It wants to <strong>break<\/strong> you like Ivan wants to break Rocky:<\/p>\n<p>[space size=\"5\"]<\/p>\n<p>[video_embed]<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ygQvB6OjHOU\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"400\" height=\"260\"><\/iframe>[\/video_embed]<\/p>\n<p>[space size=\"5\"]<\/p>\n<p>The setbacks and failures during this period will make you question <strong>everything<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You recognize your own <strong>shortcomings<\/strong> and question your <a title=\"building empires (the significance of habit)\" href=\"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/building-empires\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>ability to progress<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You finally understand the distance you have to cover to get where you want to be and it's a <strong>longer and more confusing journey<\/strong> than you anticipated \u2013 and you question your <a title=\"the myth of the tribe (the fear of finishing)\" href=\"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/fear-of-finishing\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>ability to finish<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You thought your initial enthusiasm would get you through the bad days, but you didn't expect those lows to be quite so<strong> low<\/strong> \u2013 and you question whether you should just <strong>throw in the towel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s the real question:<\/strong> <em>Do you quit and go back, <\/em>or<em> do you stick it out?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This\u00a0isn't\u00a0a rhetorical question.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing that makes the latter nobler; <strong>learning to suffer<\/strong> is something the masses have excelled at for centuries, <strong>so what<\/strong>? And there is nothing that makes quitting, in and of itself, unvirtuous (quitting binge drinking, smoking meth, or beating your spouse are all things that many would agree are great things to quit)<\/p>\n<p><strong>The truth is this:<\/strong> <em>there are some things worth quitting.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>And sometimes we need to <strong>test<\/strong> and <strong>expand<\/strong> and <strong>explore<\/strong> a path before we realize it\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Picasso never would have painted if he hadn't quit writing.<\/p>\n<p>Abraham Lincoln never would have been president if he\u00a0hadn't\u00a0quit law.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Zuckerberg never would have created Facebook if he\u00a0hadn't\u00a0quit developing Synapse.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the most successful people in the world quit so they can focus on something else.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So if you need to quit, quit.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is no shame in walking away from an endeavor if you realize <strong>you can\u2019t be the best in the world at it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\"In a free market, we reward the exceptional.\"<strong> - Seth Godin [<a title=\"The Dip\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-Dip-Little-Teaches-Stick\/dp\/1591841666\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1350616513&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+dip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Dip<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But remember this: <strong>anything worthwhile is difficult.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Anything worth doing<\/strong> is <strong>confusing<\/strong>, and <strong>uncertain<\/strong>, and <strong>brutal<\/strong>, and <strong>disheartening<\/strong>, and <strong>depressing<\/strong>, and <strong>painful<\/strong>, and (sometimes) <strong>bloody<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Anything worthy of your time and effort will make you (at times) want to pull your hair out, give up and walk away.<\/p>\n<p>It's during this time, when you know you're doing something worthwhile, that the following advice is so applicable:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\"when you reach the emotional quit point, grit your teeth and go one step further - one more attempt, one more day. \u00a0Edison was right; in many cases one more step would either solve the problem or advance you enough to see the finish line, which would produce a second wind.\" <strong>- Tim Sanders [<a title=\"Today We Are Rich\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Today-Are-Rich-Harnessing-Confidence\/dp\/1414339119\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1350617299&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=today+we+are+rich\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Today We Are Rich<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The point of quitting the journey you're on isn't to escape the journey itself - you can't run away from it - <strong>it's so that you commit to the right journey.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>If you decide to quit, quit so that you can be the best in the world at something else.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>What\u2019s your journey? Thinking of quitting, or have you already quit to move on to something better? Share your comments below.<\/p>\n<p>p.s. if you find this article intense, it\u2019s because this stuff is mental warfare. Nobody should fight alone \u2013 subscribe to my newsletter and join the small but growing army of instigators (aka The Resistance). \u00a0And remember: if you\u2019re reading this, you <strong>are<\/strong> The Resistance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/qAxaL\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-563\" title=\"Subscribe to the Resistance Broadcast\" src=\"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/subscribe-to-the-resistance-broadcast-white.png\" alt=\"Join the Resistance\" width=\"496\" height=\"65\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/subscribe-to-the-resistance-broadcast-white.png 826w, https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/subscribe-to-the-resistance-broadcast-white-300x40.png 300w, https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/subscribe-to-the-resistance-broadcast-white-768x101.png 768w, https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/subscribe-to-the-resistance-broadcast-white-720x95.png 720w, https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/subscribe-to-the-resistance-broadcast-white-580x77.png 580w, https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/subscribe-to-the-resistance-broadcast-white-320x42.png 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the first stage of instigating, life takes it easy on you. In the beginning, you have beginners luck on your side. You get lucky by running into someone who wants to promote your product, or a clever blog post you write takes off, or you add 50lbs to your bench-press in the first month [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[234],"tags":[248,341,394,406,417],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}