Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that it's okay to quit things. Doing
Speaker 1: something indefinitely isn't a virtue if you've determined that it's
Speaker 1: not the best use of your time. I want to
Speaker 1: start this episode by saying that I know some people
Speaker 1: quit things left and right. Degree programs, jobs, exercise, regiments, relationships.
Speaker 1: Some people have troubles sticking with anything. This sort of
Speaker 1: flightiness can be challenging for other people to deal with,
Speaker 1: and in the long run probably isn't much fun for
Speaker 1: the flighty people themselves. Overcoming challenges can give you incredible
Speaker 1: self confidence. Fleeing from challenges does not. But if you're
Speaker 1: listening to a podcast about productivity, I'm guessing you're not
Speaker 1: the flighty sort like me. You probably pride your self
Speaker 1: and setting out to do whatever you said you'd do.
Speaker 1: We're the sorts of people who repeat phrases like winners
Speaker 1: never quit and quitters never win. But sometimes quitting is
Speaker 1: the best choice. Time devoted to one thing is time
Speaker 1: not devoted to something else. In my own life, I've
Speaker 1: certainly seen this. I've stuck with projects I didn't enjoy
Speaker 1: and wasn't good at for all sorts of reasons. The
Speaker 1: money was decent, the people were nice. I didn't like
Speaker 1: the idea of quitting. But then when I'd finally get
Speaker 1: around to moving on, a funny thing would happen. Some
Speaker 1: amazing new opportunity would appear in the next week, And
Speaker 1: I don't think this is a coincidence. Open space invites
Speaker 1: opportunity in a way that a cluttered calendar can't. When
Speaker 1: I'm busy, I don't schedule random calls or go to things.
Speaker 1: I don't leave space for serendipity, but serendipity bring some
Speaker 1: pretty cool stuff when she shows up. In any case,
Speaker 1: there are a few things you can think about if
Speaker 1: you're pondering moving on first. In general, I like to
Speaker 1: be in a place where I can walk away from things,
Speaker 1: especially in the professional sphere. I've always prioritized savings because
Speaker 1: money represents freedom to me. It's incredibly important not to
Speaker 1: feel trapped by any job or project. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: you need to have total financial independence, but you want
Speaker 1: to have enough of a cushion that you're pretty sure
Speaker 1: your family would be fine for the amount of time
Speaker 1: it would take you to find something. I know that
Speaker 1: if you're living on the edge, this is going to
Speaker 1: be hard to pull off, but I also know that
Speaker 1: that's not the case for many people listening to this podcast.
Speaker 1: A financial cushion changes any decision making process. Second, try
Speaker 1: to separate yourself from the sunk cost fallacy and economics.
Speaker 1: A sunk cost is a cost that has already been
Speaker 1: incurred and cannot be recovered. Because it can't be recovered,
Speaker 1: you shouldn't take it into account in your decision making process.
Speaker 1: If you've been paying a team to work on launching
Speaker 1: a new product and it becomes clear that there is
Speaker 1: no market for this product, you'll never get the team
Speaker 1: members salaries back for the time they've already spent on it.
Speaker 1: It's most rational to put these people on another project immediately,
Speaker 1: but it's very tempting to throw good money after bad.
Speaker 1: As the saying goes convincing ourselves that because we've spent
Speaker 1: so much money on something, we should stick with it.
Speaker 1: We do the same thing with our time. The fact
Speaker 1: that you've spent three years at a company does not
Speaker 1: mean you should keep working there if you're unhappy with
Speaker 1: the direction the company is going or you're feeling unchallenged.
Speaker 1: Sometimes situations can be improved, and sometimes they can't. One
Speaker 1: way to remove the sunk cost issue write a job
Speaker 1: description for what you do. If you saw your job
Speaker 1: advertise like this, would you apply? If so, great, If not,
Speaker 1: you've got some thinking to do. In my case, I
Speaker 1: work for myself and I've done a wide variety of
Speaker 1: projects over the years. Freelance projects naturally change over faster
Speaker 1: than full time jobs, but it can still be hard
Speaker 1: to extricate yourself. Here's what's become my go to question
Speaker 1: over the years. Would I pay even a token amount
Speaker 1: of money to get this off my plate? If so,
Speaker 1: then why am I spending my time on it? For
Speaker 1: commitments that involve other people? I think it's important not
Speaker 1: to leave people in the lurch. This is the reason
Speaker 1: most people consider it wise to give two weeks notice.
Speaker 1: If my kids sign up for a team sport, they
Speaker 1: can't quit in the middle of the season. If they've
Speaker 1: joined the school orchestra, they can't quit before the concert.
Speaker 1: But I have let my kids quit other activities with
Speaker 1: a few safeguards. For instance, when my oldest son wanted
Speaker 1: to quit an individual sport, I required a cooling off period.
Speaker 1: He had to go to three more classes to make
Speaker 1: sure it wasn't about one particular frustration or that he
Speaker 1: was having a bad day. I also don't allow quitting
Speaker 1: just to sit around playing video games. He had to
Speaker 1: choose something else active to do instead. But he met
Speaker 1: both those conditions. A month later, he still wanted to stop,
Speaker 1: and he'd identified another activity he was willing to do,
Speaker 1: so I decided this was fine. These rules might help
Speaker 1: you too. Don't quit in a rage, don't quit in
Speaker 1: a way that leaves someone else in a lurch. And
Speaker 1: when possible, think about your quitting in the context of
Speaker 1: some other positive thing that you will then have room for.
Speaker 1: But also know that you can walk away if you
Speaker 1: need to. We spend less time thinking about the endings
Speaker 1: of things then we do about the beginnings. But most
Speaker 1: things do end. If you've been leading a meeting every
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, no that some Tuesday morning, however far it
Speaker 1: is in the future, that meeting won't happen, and at
Speaker 1: that point or on some other Tuesday, you won't be
Speaker 1: leading the meeting. Earth will keep spinning on its axis.
Speaker 1: You can quit. That doesn't mean the thing wasn't worth
Speaker 1: doing it means it's not worth it for you, not
Speaker 1: right now. Sometimes you walking away opens up space in
Speaker 1: your life, and sometimes it opens up an opportunity for
Speaker 1: someone else who will be able to give this activity
Speaker 1: the attention it deserves. That's really a win win situation.
Speaker 1: So what are you contemplating quitting? Picture yourself six months
Speaker 1: in the future, if you were still doing this thing,
Speaker 1: how would you feel? Sometimes the question can give you
Speaker 1: some real insight. In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's b E the number four then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
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