I quote, therefore I think: The common sense of quitting

And I think:

Why don’t we consider the other side of quitting more often? It’s always ‘no more of this’, not enough ‘instead, I’ll do that‘.

Which sounds and feels much better than simply trying harder, doing more of the same, or the emptiness of irredeemable failure if we don’t.

You can quit X*, or instead, you can:

• take a break and try again later
• work on a different version of X
• learn how to do Y, which is not obvious but also solves for X
• disregard X completely and tackle Z, which is the real issue and one you’ve been avoiding, and find it’s not nearly as hard as you imagined (or it is, but at least now you’re on the right path)

Anything, in fact, that shifts your energy up, and expands your sense of possibility, not contracts it.

Because waiting around can make you feel safe yet miserable and small, while the new, unknown path can be scary but eventually more satisfying, forcing you to stay open, flexible, and guide you to your next breakthrough.

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*X marks the goal, the dilemma, the dream, the project, the next step, but never “the spot”, because life keeps moving and there is no “there”, only here.