Seven Questions to Ask Before Quitting

Your parents drummed into your head never to do this.

You walked off your job as a paperboy at age 12, and feel guilty to this day.

Your high school athletic coach yelled at you.

You stayed with a girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other/spouse longer than you should have before exiting a toxic relationship.

Blue metal compass

 

Not quitting seems to be bred into us. But is quitting ever a good thing? Is it ever a good idea?

Overcoming the mostly worthwhile habit of perseverance instilled in us from childhood, as an entrepreneur, and oftentimes in life in general, quitting can be beneficial. Here are seven questions to ask when deciding to quit:

The first, and our threshold inquiry, is to ask why you are taking a particular action, doing a particular task, or engaging in a particular series of tasks. And our initial question is the proverbial onion. Keep peeling away at layers or, keep asking why. Don’t settle for your first response. Pretend you are again three years old. When your parents told you you couldn’t do something, you kept asking why to each response they gave you until finally, exasperated, they simply replied “because I said so!” Dig deep until you can’t probe any further.

A second question, and like all the others, one that springs from the first, is when you determine the “why”, is your rationale rooted in fear or guilt? If so, these are often not valid motives to continue along a path, and can be crippling to your business and to your person.

Does an action benefit or help someone else, or solve a problem for them? This third query is especially pertinent to an entrepreneurial journey. Thought leaders inform us that our best path to sustainable success is to focus first on those we serve, those for whom we solve problems. Revenues, and ultimately profits, will follow.

Fourth, is this a chore that either you do poorly or loathingly? If so, should you give it to someone else to do, either by delegating or outsourcing?

What is the value of the undertaking versus the time spent? In the business world, are you doing something that’s paying you $1.93 per hour? If so, can you eliminate this activity, or at least assign it to another?

Our sixth search is to look at alternatives to the particular activity that’s being examined. Is there something else you could be doing instead, a more valuable way to use your time? Is this project mission critical?

Finally, are you doing something for clients who are not a good fit for you? In other words, is this a product or service you should consider not offering? Or, is it being offered to clients for whom you can’t efficiently deliver it? Sometimes the right decision an entrepreneur can make is to turn down business, particularly where the output or customer simply isn’t one that you can best handle.

You made it to the end of this article 🙂 . . . You should recognize that sometimes quitting is the right move. Don’t complete something simply because it’s routine or always done.

Speak Your Mind

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.