How to Know When It’s Time To Quit
What To Do When You’re in a Situation You Don’t Want To Be In
I used to work a low-wage job that made me miserable.
My co-worker had been doing the same job for 10 years. One day I told him about the skills I was learning to find a better job.
He told me he had tried to do the same thing before but gave up.
I don’t know what made him lose hope, but I know that people will stay in a situation even if it makes them unhappy. I stumbled across the framework I’m about to share from Steven Bartlett — host of the podcast Diary of a CEO. It made me rethink my approach to quitting.
If you find yourself in a situation you don’t want to be in, it’s worth having a conversation with yourself by asking yourself the following question.
Are you thinking about quitting?
If the answer is yes you should ask yourself why. There are many reasons why we quit things, but they can usually fall into either of these categories:
- Because it’s difficult.
- Because it sucks.
Let's define these two categories using examples:
- Difficulty: Studying for a hard exam — trying to grasp complex ideas with long hours of revision.
- Sucks: Working in a low-wage job while developing your skills.
These are just examples. It could be anything you’re going through.
The important thing to remember is that the difficult thing is something that tests your limits. The thing that sucks is about enduring discomfort or frustration.
If It’s difficult
It’s easier to stay motivated and engaged when the thing we are chasing is challenging but also meaningful.
You should ask yourself next, is the reward worth it?
If the answer is yes
In the studying example — if passing the exam will give you new opportunities to earn more money that will allow you to support yourself or your family, then it‘s worth continuing.
We’re most engaged when the challenge is difficult BUT subjectively meaningful and worthwhile to us.
— Steven Bartlett
If the answer is no
There’s nothing more disheartening than enduring meaningless hardship.
Quit.
It’s better to replace it with something that will have a meaningful positive impact on your life or someone else’s.
If It sucks
Before accepting the sucky situation for what it is, we should ask ourselves the following question.
Is there anything I can do to make it NOT suck?
And is the effort to make it better worth the reward on offer?
If the answer is yes
If for example, the low-paid job will allow you to get a better job later, it may be worth continuing.
If the answer is no
If there is no long-term upside to working the job, then you should do everything you can to find something that will give you better opportunities in the future.
Thanks for reading.
