Seth Godin has some brilliant thoughts in terms of when, why, and how to “quit” the right things, in order to focus on becoming the BEST IN THE WORLD. In gist, he recommends that you eliminate those distractions (even good things) that aren’t priorities. Godin suggests that we need to be tremendously clear about differentiating between short term (emotional) quitting verses long term (strategic) quitting.
Check out some quick-hit insight from his book, The Dip, on “Seven Reasons You might Fail to Become the Best in the World.”
1. You run out of time (and quit).
2. You run out of money (and quit).
3. You get scared (and quit).
4. You’re not serious about it (and quit).
5. You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
6. You focus on short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
7. You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).
How are you going to realign your life, if need be, in order to focus on being the BEST IN THE WORLD? What would that look like for you? What are some “simple” steps you can make to ensure you are aligning your life to quit the “right” things in your life, and not buckle under the pressure?
“What would that look like for you?”
Wow, what a deep question…. Being the best is so relative to perspective. I’m not sure I’ve thought about this enough, personally. I know what being the best means in the perspective of what my company’s expectations are for me…but what are my personal expectations. Do they align with my company’s? My parent’s? My friend’s? What an important question for self-guidance.
“What are some ‘simple’ steps you can make to ensure you are aligning your life to quit the ‘right’ things in your life, and not buckle under the pressure?”
It’s rare to immediately think of quitting as the first step towards being the best…which is why I really like this post. Quitting what you should quit is sometimes hard. I don’t think it has to be, but it really can be. What sometimes seems to be even more difficult is continuing something that is hard. Ergo, continuing to quit something that is hard to quit becomes so much harder than just continuing what you should be quitting. What a play on words…. Great post!
Barry: This notion of quitting seems counter-intuitive. Especially given the nature of our social norms, where it is built into culture that “quitting” is somehow a negative thing.
In many ways we quit other priorities in our life, to focus on those priorities which are most important to us. I highly recommend picking up Seth Godin’s book, The Dip. A short easy book to read. The book is dedicated to focusing on long-term (strategic) quitting, verses short-term (impulsive/emotional) quitting.