Every one of us has given up on an endeavour that we wish we still did. We have all heard someone say, “I used to do such-and-such, but you know, things just didn’t work out.” This is the catch phrase of choice for anyone who has quit on something.
I was recently having a conversation about this topic with a friend of mine and I suggested that we need to quit things in order to get to the next steps in life. He had a slightly different take. From his perspective, “quitting” is when you give up on something that you love. Giving up on the thing that burns inside of you and that you passionately want to do. Conversely, “pivoting” means ending one thing in order to start another. When you pivot, you leave something behind, but you do it in order to move on to greener pastures. When you quit, you give up on something you truly love.
Quitting is the disease that plagues us all and prevents us from becoming the best versions of ourselves. It’s hard enough to fight our own negative thoughts, but in addition to our own self-doubt, we often also face a barrage of feedback from our friends and family telling us that what we are doing is dumb or won’t work. In short, quitting is easy.
That said, nothing will limit you more in life than quitting on the things you love. Often the things we love might not make us any money and a zero-pay career may not jive with our lifestyle expectations. But, rather than giving up on your goal, what you need to do is pivot and incorporate your passion into your career. Pivoting is what you will hear all successful entrepreneurs talk about. They will marry themselves to solving a problem rather then being married to a specific solution. When one solution fails, they adapt and move on to alternative solution.
Quitting and giving up will affect more people this year than any disease and will include everything from New Year resolutions, career ambitions and even relationships. Don’t let self-doubt and others hold you back, the struggle is real for us all and it’s a battle we will fight our whole lives. Stay committed and know when to pivot, and you will develop a natural immunity to the deadly disease of quitting.
Originally published at breakingbaystreet.com on February 10, 2016.