When To Quit?

Guy Kawasaki talks to Seth Godin about his new book: The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). My favorite response was his first one, which involves less of his opinion of specific companies, people and products, and more about people in general - when and why!! It has to do with mediocrity, which deadens all of our spirits whether we realize it at the time or not.

Guy asks: "Other than hindsight, how does someone know when it’s time to quit?" Godin responds: "It’s time to quit when you secretly realize you’ve been settling for mediocrity all along. It’s time to quit when the things you’re measuring aren’t improving, and you can’t find anything better to measure.

Smart quitters understand the idea of opportunity cost. The work you’re doing on project X right now is keeping you from pushing through the Dip on project Y. If you fire your worst clients, if you quit your deadest tactics, if you stop working with the people who return the least, then you free up an astounding number of resources. Direct those resources at a Dip worth conquering and your odds of success go way up."

And on the worst time to quit? He says, "when the pain is the greatest. Decisions made during great pain are rarely good decisions." Looks like there's another great Seth Godin book to check out.