The Upside of Quitting: Why do you sometimes need to Quit to Win
“Quitters never win and winners never quit.”
— Vincent Lombardi
These are the infamous words of legendary NFL coach, Vincent Lombardi, considered by many to be one the greatest coaches in American sports history.
Almost half a century after this death, Lombardi’s words are still a good representation of what we believe about success today — that winners never give up and losers always quit.
But, what if our beliefs about success are backward?
What if quitting could improve the odds of success and grit or perseverance could leave us worse off?
If you never quit anything, you’re going to have less time for the things that really matter — Eric Barker
“There are only 24 hours in a day. If you never quit anything, you’re going to have less time for the things that really matter.”
As a fact, persistence is important too. If you abandon a marathon at the 5 km mark, you’ll never succeed. But rather than thinking of quitting as the absolute last resort, we may want to reconsider its value, say experts. Research suggests that, when done for the right reasons, walking away from a workspace, relationship or even an ambition can make you happier, healthier, and more successful.
The ability to persevere and not quit is a commendable trait. However, it is huge problem when people become obsessed with the notion of not quitting for the sake of not quitting. For example, when people equate all forms of quitting with losing. When they refuse to quit just because they want everything to be perfect. When their desire not to quit is driven by a fear of what quitting means to others.
“Get-There-Itis”
On one hazy, dark night in July of 1999, John F.Kennedy Jr. — the son of President John F.Kennedy — piloted the take-off of a flight, en-route to Martha’s Vineyard for the wedding of his cousin, Rory Kennedy.
As Kennedy navigated the aircraft along the Connecticut coastline and over Rhode Island Sound, a sudden haze and darkness clouded his vision.
Kennedy was disoriented, he could no longer see what direction the plane was flying towards. And then, in a random series of maneuvers, he swiveled the plane to the right and the left, upwards, then downwards — all at varying speeds.
A few miles from his final destination, Kennedy lost control of the plane. Moments later, it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
A couple of days afterward, a rescue team of divers recovered the dead bodies of Kennedy and the passengers — his wife and sister-in-law.
Since the tragic death of John F.Kennedy Jr, there have been several investigations into the possible causes of the plane crash.
Some point the finger at the poor flight visibility caused by the hazy, dark weather condition. Others point to his inexperience in flying a plane in nighttime conditions.
According to Dr. Douglas Lonnstrom, Siena College professor and experienced pilot, there is one standout possible cause — it’s called “get-there-itis.”
“Get-there-itis” — a common word used and sometimes joked about by pilots — is the determination of a pilot to reach a destination, even when flying in conditions that are very dangerous.
Lonnstrom alongside a good handful of experienced pilots suggests that Kennedy had been blinded by “Get-there-itis” on the day of the plane crash.
Prior to takeoff, Kennedy had promised both his sister, Caroline, who was vacationing in Idaho with her family, and his wife, Carolyn, that he would arrive at Martha’s Vineyard that night and attend the wedding.
Kennedy was determined to fulfill these promises and fly to the destination, despite two other pilots canceling their flights due to the bad weather conditions.
In the end, Kennedy’s “Get-there-itis” cost not only his life but also the lives of his loved ones.
If Kennedy had quit the flight plans, instead of persevering to reach his destination, three lives would have been saved on that day.
Quit something to Win Big
“Get-there-itis” could blind us in persevering towards achieving a goal, even when the costs outweigh the benefits.
A headstrong determination to persist with a bad business idea, job, relationship, friendship, and so on, could cost us much of our money, energy, health, and time, which we can never get back.
Once a significant amount of time, money, and energy has been invested towards a goal, it becomes more difficult to quit, even though sticking to the goal could cost us as much, if not much more than what we’ve lost already.
Winners avoid “get-there-itis” and pick the right moment to give up on a goal.
In the world of trading, Jack Schwager, a renowned expert in futures trading in his research discovered that the common habit shared by the top traders was the ability to “Cut your losses and let your profits run.”
In the world of entrepreneurship,
some of the most profitable businesses have been built after the entrepreneur had quit on another idea and cut their losses.
For example, the social media platform,
- Twitter, was a pivot idea, built after the founders abandoned their podcasting company, Odeo.
- Youtube, originally a dating site,
- eBay was originally a platform for selling PEZ dispensers, and
- Google, which began as a library book search engine.
In the world of science,
some of the most innovative inventions have been the sequel to a series of abandoned ideas and experiments.
For example,
- Sir Alexander Fleming abandoned his search for a drug to cure diseases to later discover the powerful antibiotic, penicillin.
What if these people refused to quit on their initial goals? What would the world look like today?
Winners quit on different things in their life, to create more time and energy to devote towards something more important and rewarding to them.
Quitting also has health benefits.
According to psychologists Wrosch and Miller, ‘goal disengagement’ — that is, giving up on our goals — could also improve overall well-being.
During their one-year-long study, which involved tracking the effects of goal setting on 90 teenagers, the psychologists discovered that the participants who refused to quit on unattainable goals experienced higher levels of inflammatory molecule C-reactive protein — a protein linked with heart disease and diabetes.
Conclusion
It’s not the thing you should quit every time, but knowing when to quit can have big physiological and psychological benefits, as psychology professor Carsten Wrosch notes:
People who are better able to let go when they experience unattainable goals, they have the experience, for example, less depressive symptoms, less negative affect over time. They also have lower cortisol levels, and they have lower levels of systemic inflammation which is a marker of immune functioning. And they develop fewer physical health problems over time.
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