Rules for Quitting

From Ben Arment via Seth Godin originally quoting Dick Collins (phew!):

When people quit, it’s not usually because they’ve run out of resources or because they’ve faced an insurmountable obstacle. It’s because they were mentally defeated. The worry, fear, and rejection all became too much to bear.

In Seth Godin’s book The Dip, he quotes ultra-marathoner Dick Collins on persevering through difficult races:

“Decide before the race the conditions that will cause you to stop and drop out. You don’t want to be out there saying, ‘Well gee, my leg hurts, I’m a little dehydrated, I’m sleepy, I’m tired, and it’s cold and windy.’ And talk yourself into quitting. If you are making a decision based on how you feel at that moment, you will probably make the wrong decision.”

We have to do the same thing. We have to make rules for ourselves, conditions for quitting. We have to decide now before we go any further so that when times get hard (and they will), we can endure through them.

We have to give our will a chance to stand up to our whim.