Two concepts often talked about in the business world are continuous improvement and creative destruction. Continuous improvement looks to see where progress can be made with existing systems, routines, services, products, and so on. There has been a lot of work at making things increasingly more efficient over time. In contrast, creative destruction is about pivoting from one thing to another as needed. This could look like making a different product that seems to now be in demand even if doing so requires one to quit making an existing product that’s selling well. Someone I know once described continuous improvement as constantly working to make a better widget while creative destruction is knowing when to quit making a better widget and start making the doohickey. While I do find value in continuous improvement, creative destruction fits in better with this post, which is about the importance of quitting.
Some folks say that quitting is one of the worst, if not the worst, things you can do. They have tons of motivational pep talks about never giving up, continuing to move forward, and persevering through anything and everything. Nope. By focusing so much on diving headfirst through obstacles, they neglect to see if there are easier ways to get around those obstacles, or if there are other ways to get where they want to go that have few, if any, obstacles. Sometimes, they might even choose a needlessly difficult path so they can satisfy their pride by bragging about intentionally going the hard way.
Beyond that, there are countless stories of people having great success and even totally transforming their lives after they quit one or more things. So many have improved their health by quitting eating junk food and living sedentary lives. Others have made things much better for themselves and their loved ones by quitting one or more toxic relationships. Rather than figure out how to manage their counterproductive habits, they quit them and then prospered. The sooner you quit something bad and start doing something good, the better. Habits can take a long time to change, so the longer you go down the wrong path, the longer it’ll take and the harder it’ll be to get onto a good path.
Some of the things I’ve quit include suppressing my emotions, letting others walk all over me (mostly), bad jobs, toxic relationships, and letting the negative opinions of others stop me from doing what’s good for me. That last point is easiest to see with my healing journey after my dog Sawyer’s death. Some might think I’m wallowing in misery or find it insane that I still talk and sing to Sawyer by his grave. They can think that all they want. I know that those and other activities and routines I’ve developed since losing Sawyer have reduced the overwhelming pain that was drowning me for over a year to nearly nothing. What I’m doing is helping me heal, and I’ll keep it up regardless of whether or not anyone else understands or approves of it.
Over time, I’ve gotten better at sticking with the things that work well for me and quitting those that work badly. In many cases, I’ve benefited more from stopping quitting something bad than starting two or more good things. Getting rid of that which does more harm than good makes room for more of the good in relationships, business, and life overall. That’s why I’m glad to have quit so much in my life and why I’ll never quit quitting.