When You Feel Like Quitting… Consider This

You work hard toward your writing and business goals.

You spend time on the big picture and getting daily tasks done.

You make strides, you celebrate milestones, and you continue working and building your dream.

But there are hiccups and stumbles along the way.

And sometimes, whether it’s a bad day, a tough client, a technology snafu, or some other “last straw,” you might think about quitting and walking away.

Success isn’t always a breeze — if it was easy, everyone would succeed at whatever they tried. Success takes works.

If (or when) you find yourself thinking about quitting and moving onto something different, think about why you started.

Go back to the spark. What was it that started you on your current path? Take some time to remember how it felt, how inspired and fired up you were. Remembering that first spark might help you refocus and keep moving forward today.

Robin Sharma said, “When you feel most like giving up is when you most need to keep going on.” I think it’s usually at this moment, the moment right before saying “I quit”, when you make the most critical decision.

I experienced this unadulterated moment years ago and I can put myself back in that moment in an instant. I was climbing Mount Washington in NH, making good time, enjoying the beautiful day, the exercise, the challenge.

Then I got above treeline and fog moved in. I couldn’t see anything. I lost track of the markers on the stone and I only knew I was still climbing because of the incline, but I had no sense of how far I was from the summit or the tree line. Totally lost and blind. After a couple of discouraging and frustrating hours, I reached the point where I was absolutely done. I didn’t want to think, I didn’t want to move, I was just done trying. I’d been pushed beyond my limits and wanted to curl up and hide until life was easy again.

I sat down on a boulder and said, “I quit.”

And it turned out the universe was teaching me a lesson.

No sooner had I uttered those 2 words of defeat, the fog lifted and blue sky appeared. But not only that, I was seated beside the tracks for the Cog railway (which leads directly to the summit). But not only THAT, I was literally sitting a few feet below the summit house.

I had achieved my goal after all. I was at the summit of the mountain. I did it all under my own power, and yet, because I felt lost, because I had lost my focus, because I didn’t push just a little bit further, because I couldn’t see what was right in front of me, I quit.

I had a goal. I prepared and planned. I executed on the goal. I took one step at a time toward my goal.

But then challenges popped up, and I got tired, then frustrated, then angry. Instead of stopping to refocus, remember what started me up the mountain to start with, take a breath, and come up with a new plan of attack, I went with the easiest choice – quit.

Now, whenever I feel the word “quit” moving into my thoughts, I go back to that moment on the mountain and I have to say, I have never regretted taking one more step toward my goal – writing, business, personal, or otherwise – being so close to quitting is when you need to push just a little further, a little harder, and with a little more determination.

Wishing you the greatest success with your writing and your business dreams!

Have you ever regretted taking one more step, pushing just a little harder toward your business (or any) goals?