Quitting: The good that can come out of it

8/9/2025

Have you ever considered quitting?

Over the years, I have quit jobs, hobbies, unsuccessful business ventures, and dead-end relationships. It was scary but free at the same moment. Idea of quitting has such a bad connotation, that the idea of doing it can be heart wrenching.

Our society often touts perseverance and grit over quitting. There have been many meta studies touting perseverance and particularly grit. Yet, there is a large body of work showing that perseverance may have a harmful downside according to Harvard Business Review. Adding, one study found that not giving up can mean people persist even when they have nothing to gain.

 So, while it might be valuable to persist with worthwhile and rewarding tasks, people who do continue with worthless tasks that are both uninteresting and unrewarding, are wasting their time and talents according to Harvard Business Review (HBR).

Some people may see quitting as an ending, but it is also a new beginning. Acknowledge the feeling of wanting to quit is normal.

Author Jon Acuff wrote in his book, “Quitter,” that after a while he got good at quitting jobs: jobs that were 40 hour a week with a 401K and benefits. Acuff wrote about quitting his job to create a dream career. There are many examples that are shared in his book.

Did you know that the average median number of years is 3.9 years that wage, and salary workers had been with their current employer as of January 2024? This down from 4.1 years in January 2022 and that is the lowest since 2002 according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Quitting is not just about quitting a job. Quitting can be a new beginning, a restart, a do-over.

McKenna Princing wrote that there are a few things to consider when deciding to quit:

• Quitting can be an effective way to get out of a tough situation or seek a new, exciting one. 
• Feeling burnt out or not respected could be signs it is time to quit. 
• Figure out if changing your current situation would help or if seeking a new situation is best. 
• Resist the urge to quit or leave in anger.

According to Princing, the truth is that sometimes quitting is the healthiest option in a not-great situation — or because something even better has arrived on your doorstep.

Annie Duke is the author of Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away. Quitting is often misunderstood as failure. However, quitting can be strategic and a necessary decision means cutting your losses. It is important to distinguish that learning to effectively quit can free us from bad investments, unhealthy relationships, open us to new opportunities, and improve our decision-making.

Quitting can be a good thing:

• Minimize losses: Cut your losses, redirect your time, energy, and resources.
• Opportunity cost: Continuing with something that is not good, can prevent you from pursuing better options.
• Cognitive and emotional freedom: Quitting can remove the emotional and mental burden of sticking with something that is not working.

According to Duke, quitting is not just about the big, macro changes; it can be about small things that you have been holding onto and need to let go.

It could be quitting treating yourself badly, i.e., “oh, I am not good at this,” “why do I bother?” or “Doesn’t matter, it turns out the same no matter what.” Quitting could be about stopping being negative, quit thinking you are not worth the time. Sometimes we must quit something to make room for a good change in our lives. Knowing when to quit or give up can be liberating. Yet, it can be quite scary.

Author Julia Keller notes in her book, Quitting: A Life Strategy that grit is not always great. Sticking it out does not always pay off and quitting can be an unexpected act of self-love.

Have you ever thought about quitting something? Did you do it? How did it feel?

“The idea that winners never quit is both overly simplistic and false. Most successful people have ‘quit’ several times.” – Paul Jarvis, Company of One

Resources:

Image. Retrieved on 8/9/2025 from https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/hand-drawn-flat-design-overwhelmed-people-illustration_24683085.htm

Acuff, Jon. Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job & Your Dream Job. Ramsey Press ©2015

Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor. “Employee Tenure in 2024.” Retrieved on 8/5/2025 from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/tenure.pdf#:~:text=The%20median%20number%20of%20years%20that%20wage%20and,the%20U.S.%20Bureau%20of%20Labor%20Statistics%20reported%20today.

Duke, Annie. Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away. Penguin Publishing Group. ©2022

“The Feeling of wanting to quit is normal, it might mean something, it might not.” Retrieved on 8/2/2025 from https://anotherdoor.squarespace.com/another-door-blog/2025/3/24/the-feeling-of-wanting-to-quit-is-normal-it-might-mean-something-it-might-not

Keller, Julia. Quitting: A Life Strategy: The Myth of Perseverance―and How the New Science of Giving Up Can Set You Free. © April 2023. Book review Retrieved on 8/2/2025 from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61918826-quitting

Princing, McKenna. “Quitting Is not Always Bad. Here is the Best Way to Do It.” 12/18/2023. Retrieved on 8/2/2025 from https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/life/work/how-to-quit-gracefully

Spicer, Andre. “When to Stick with Something-and When to quit.” 10/1/2018. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on 8/2/2025 from https://hbr.org/2018/09/when-to-stick-with-something-and-when-to-quit