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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production

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of I Heart Radio. Good

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Morning, This is Laura. Welcome

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to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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tip is that it's okay to quit things.

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Doing something indefinitely isn't

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a virtue if you've determined

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that it's not the best use of your time. I

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want to start this episode by saying that I know

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some people quit things left and right.

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Degree programs, jobs, exercise,

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regiments, relationships. Some people

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have troubles sticking with anything.

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This sort of flightiness can be challenging

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for other people to deal with, and in the long

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run probably isn't much fun for the flighty

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people themselves. Overcoming

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challenges can give you incredible self

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confidence. Fleeing from challenges

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does not. But if you're

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listening to a podcast about productivity,

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I'm guessing you're not the flighty sort

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like me. You probably pride your self and setting

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out to do whatever you said you'd do. We're

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the sorts of people who repeat phrases like winners

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never quit and quitters never

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win. But sometimes

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quitting is the best choice.

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Time devoted to one thing is

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time not devoted to something else. In

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my own life, I've certainly seen this. I've

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stuck with projects I didn't enjoy

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and wasn't good at for all sorts

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of reasons. The money was decent,

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the people were nice. I didn't

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like the idea of quitting. But

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then when I'd finally get around

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to moving on, a funny thing would

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happen. Some amazing

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new opportunity would appear in

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the next week, And I don't

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think this is a coincidence. Open

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space invites opportunity

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in a way that a cluttered calendar can't.

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When I'm busy, I don't schedule

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random calls or go to things. I

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don't leave space for serendipity, but

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serendipity bring some pretty cool

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stuff when she shows up. In

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any case, there are a few things you can think about

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if you're pondering moving on first.

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In general, I like to be in a place where I

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can walk away from things, especially

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in the professional sphere. I've

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always prioritized savings because

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money represents freedom

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to me. It's incredibly important not to feel

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trapped by any job or project.

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I'm not saying you need to have total financial

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independence, but you want to have enough

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of a cushion that you're pretty sure your

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family would be fine for the amount of

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time it would take you to find something.

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I know that if you're living on the edge, this is going to be

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hard to pull off, but I also know that

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that's not the case for many people listening

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to this podcast. A financial

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cushion changes any decision making

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process. Second,

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try to separate yourself from the sunk cost

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fallacy and economics.

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A sunk cost is a cost that has

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already been incurred and cannot

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be recovered. Because

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it can't be recovered, you shouldn't

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take it into account in your decision making

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process. If you've been

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paying a team to work on launching a new product

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and it becomes clear that there is no market

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for this product, you'll never get

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the team members salaries back for the time they've

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already spent on it. It's most

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rational to put these people on another project

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immediately, but it's

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very tempting to throw good money after bad.

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As the saying goes convincing

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ourselves that because we've spent so much money

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on something, we should stick with it.

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We do the same thing with our time. The

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fact that you've spent three years at a company

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does not mean you should keep working there

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if you're unhappy with the direction the company is

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going or you're feeling unchallenged.

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Sometimes situations can be improved, and

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sometimes they can't. One

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way to remove the sunk cost issue

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write a job description for

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what you do. If you saw

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your job advertise like this, would

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you apply? If so,

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great, If not,

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you've got some thinking to do. In

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my case, I work for myself and I've done a wide

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variety of projects over the years. Freelance

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projects naturally change over faster than

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full time jobs, but it can still be

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hard to extricate yourself. Here's

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what's become my go to question over the years.

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Would I pay even a token amount

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of money to get this off my plate? If

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so, then why am I spending

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my time on it? For

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commitments that involve other people? I

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think it's important not to leave people in the

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lurch. This is the reason most

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people consider it wise to give two weeks

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notice. If my kids sign up

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for a team sport, they can't quit in the middle

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of the season. If they've joined the school

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orchestra, they can't quit before

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the concert. But I have let

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my kids quit other activities with

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a few safeguards. For

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instance, when my oldest son wanted to quit

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an individual sport, I required

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a cooling off period. He

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had to go to three more classes to make

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sure it wasn't about one particular frustration

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or that he was having a bad day.

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I also don't allow quitting just to sit around

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playing video games. He had to choose

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something else active to do instead. But

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he met both those conditions. A

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month later, he still wanted to stop, and

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he'd identified another activity he was willing

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to do, so I decided this

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was fine. These rules

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might help you too. Don't quit

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in a rage, don't quit in

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a way that leaves someone else in a lurch. And

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when possible, think about your

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quitting in the context of some other

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positive thing that you will then have

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room for. But also

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know that you can walk away if

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you need to. We spend

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less time thinking about the endings of things

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then we do about the beginnings.

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But most things do end.

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If you've been leading a meeting every

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Tuesday morning, no that some

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Tuesday morning, however far it

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is in the future, that meeting won't

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happen, and at that point

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or on some other Tuesday, you won't

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be leading the meeting. Earth

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will keep spinning on its axis.

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You can quit. That doesn't mean

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the thing wasn't worth doing it

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means it's not worth it for you, not

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right now. Sometimes

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you walking away opens up space in your

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life, and sometimes it opens up

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an opportunity for someone else who

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will be able to give this activity the

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attention it deserves. That's

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really a win win situation. So

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what are you contemplating quitting? Picture

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yourself six months in the future, if

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you were still doing this thing, how

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would you feel? Sometimes

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the question can give you some real

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insight. In the meantime,

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This is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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and here's to making the most of our time. Hey,

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everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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You can send me your tips, your questions, or

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anything else. Just connect with

7:22

me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

7:25

at Before Breakfast Pod that's

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b E the number four then

7:30

Breakfast p o D. You

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can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

7:36

podcast at i heeart media dot com

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that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the

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letters. Thanks so much, I look

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forward to staying in touch. Before

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Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.

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For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

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